Excited
Kalpen Modi — better known as Kal Penn or Kumar from Harold & Kumar — started his first day of work at The White House on July 6th as the associate director of the Office of Public Engagement running public outreach, with a focus on young people, the arts world and Asian-Americans. The New York Times describes Kalpen’s involvement in the Obama campaign and Asian American issues in an article covering Obama and Hollywood:
“In 2007, he signed on with the Obama campaign as a volunteer, going door to door and making phone calls; eventually he joined candidate Obama’s arts policy committee. Friends say that Mr. Modi, 32, who is Indian-American, has a deep interest in policy and in promoting Asian-Americans in the arts. Last year, he taught a course at the University Of Pennsylvania on how Asian-Americans are portrayed in the media. Although he played a terrorist in 2007 on “24,” he told an entertainment reporter at the time: “I have a huge political problem with the role. It was essentially accepting a form of racial profiling.””
So Kal Penn recognized he was reinforcing a racial stereotype, yet accepted the role on 24 anyway?
Also in the article, a new tidbit of information regarding A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, slated for release in November 2010: it sounds like Kal Penn is trying to get out his commitment to this film. Hopefully, Hollywood doesn’t make a third Harold & Kumar movie if it is just as flat as the mediocre sequel.
Image Source: Associated Press
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Kal Penn is a remarkable dude. Actor, Ivy League lecturer, Obama staffer ... all this before 30. He exemplifies the stereotype; damn overachiever.
Kal Penn is a remarkable dude. Actor, Ivy League lecturer, Obama staffer ... all this before 30. He exemplifies the stereotype; damn overachiever.
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[...] of being a non-paid diplomatic envoy representing the United States. I wonder if this means that Michelle will have a chance at all to work with Kal Penn. AKPC_IDS += [...]
[...] Earlier this summer, Kal Penn (known by his full real name, Kalpen Modi) left The White House to film another sequel to Harold & Kumar. Well, Penn is back, returning to the Office of Public Engagement as an Associate Director and be the point person for those in the Arts, Youth, and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. Very much like his what he was doing prior to leaving The White House. [...]