Kal Penn Leaving Obama Team for ‘Harold & Kumar’ Sequel

kal-penn-white houseActor Kal Penn is  leaving the Obama White House to film another “Harold & Kumar” sequel.

Our friends at Lifeline Live and other entertainment news outlets are reporting that actor Kal Penn is leaving his White House job to film another sequel to the Harold & Kumar movies.

So did you ever wonder what Kalpeni Modi (the actor’s real name) did as an associate director of public engagement for President Obama?  Of course, he promoted Obama’s public policies. In a White House blog post earlier this week, Modi touted Obama signing into law sweeping changes in the student loan program aimed at helping more young people go to college.

[…]

Modi also was Obama’s liaison to Asian-American community groups, updating them on policy initiatives and engaging them on ways they could help the president.

I’ve checked the dates on this and it appears not to be an April Fools’ joke.  As odd as it was for the star of a goofball movie about potheads to be given a prominent role in a presidential team, it’s simply bizarre for said individual to leave after a year to return to making pothead movies.

Perhaps this is why Cheech Marin never received an appointment in the Reagan Administration.

FILED UNDER: Entertainment, Popular Culture, US Politics,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Idiot says:

    “it’s simply bizarre for said individual to leave after a year to return to making pothead movies.”

    The money, the woman, and the hours are all better.

  2. Franklin says:

    First movie was a pleasant surprise, and I don’t even smoke pot. Second movie was horrible – they should have quit while they were ahead. Not going to see the third, period.

  3. Triumph says:

    As odd as it was for the star of a goofball movie about potheads to be given a prominent role in a presidential team, it’s simply bizarre for said individual to leave after a year to return to making pothead movies.

    This shouldn’t surprise us a bit–these are LIBERALS we’re talking about.

    Liberalism is an attack on responsible culture. The Dems have made it a central part of their platform to destroy American values, turn us into an Islamo-hippy state, and bring the gays into mainstream society.

    Look for Obama to appoint Hanoi Jane Fonda to be this guy’s replacement.

  4. UlyssesUnbound says:

    Hey! He didn’t just star in pothead movies! He also co-starred a tv show about a drug-addict doctor.

    While it was odd that he accepted his position, I thought it was laudable that someone would give up, even temporarily, the money and freedom of being an actor. But it was certainly a respectable thing to do.

    Is it really bizarre that he’s leaving though? Don’t many administration workers cycle out after a few years? I know its certainly common for cabinet members to move on or be reshuffled every 2 years, I just always assumed the same was true for subcabinet and higher admin officials as well.

  5. Zelsdorf Ragshaft III says:

    And you all think Sarah Palin is not qualified to be President. I wonder is a twerp such as this ever served in anything Palin ever ran? I sort of doubt it. About that show last night hosted by Palin. I would say most of the posters here owe her an apology. What was it that she should be embarassed about James?

  6. john personna says:

    Yeah Zelsdorf, we know Kal Penn was actually the shadow President.

    (I wonder how much “an Associate Director for the Office of Public Engagement” was actually given to do, and how sitting with feet on desk compares to working in Hollywood. Imagine, they say “an” Associate Director, and not even “the.”)

  7. pylon says:

    I wonder is a twerp such as this ever served in anything Palin ever ran?

    And I wonder – is our children learning?

  8. Lunacy says:

    To describe “House” as a tv show about a drug addict doctor is, well, pathetic. And lacking any real descriptives or adjectives.

    I’m a conservative, but Kal played a solid role in a tv show about a complex and conflicted but brilliant doctor with a bevy of underlings who strive to acquire the doctor’s good trait while rejecting his bad traits.

  9. UlyssesUnbound says:

    Really? Out of all the comments and quotes in this post, your objection is to the description of “House?”

  10. Have a nice G.A. says:

    Hell, I dint know Cheech was a Republican:)