Every Kiwi kid knows the story of Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy.
But the Lynley Dodd classic collection was found to not be "inclusive of diverse characters" in a study released over the weekend by senior childhood researcher Dr Helen Adam of Edith Cowan University.
The research looked at 177 children's books including The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Harry the Dirty Dog, most of which were written decades ago.
Flynny, who was away at the start of this week, had a couple of days to stew over the controversy, and he needed to say his piece on it.
Watch Flynny give his passionate speech about the 'Hairy' debacle, or read the full transcript below.
"It's 2022. Like all through history - things are different than they were before. This is always going to be the case. That neither a good or bad thing - it's just how it goes.
Is celebrating all people - all genders, sexualities , races and cultures a good thing? Of course it is!
But right now, the pendulum of PCness has swung so far in one direction that it's making people read into things that don't need to be read into. Demonising things that should not be demonised.
We have academics coming out of the woodwork saying the Hairy Maclary books are not INCLUSIVE enough. Give me strength!
Stop condemning the past - let's look back and love our history - and learn from it.
Lynley Dodd is a literary genius and a New Zealand living national treasure.
Let's still read the books to our kids. They are classic and brilliant books.
Let's not let these people who are trying to make everything seem dark and wrong, who are trying to make us guilty for things we don't need to be guilty about - let's not let them win!
The pendulum has swung too far. Let's be happy and celebrate this gift life instead of picking holes in it!"
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