This is sort of old news by now, but — as of June 1st — Kal Penn (of Harold and Kumar, House M.D., and The Namesake) has officially resigned his position at the White House as Associate Director in the Office of Public Engagement and liaison to the Asian American community. Penn accepted the position when Obama took office knowing that he was committed to filming the next installment of Harold and Kumar later this year.
The Asian American community is losing a passionate voice in the White House with Penn’s departure, but I’m glad that Penn took time from Hollywood to perform this public service. I look forward to finding out who will replace Penn in the Obama Administration.
Incidentally, CNN’s political ticker article highlighting Penn’s resignation really rubbed me the wrong way. It seems like it was written and researched based on Penn’s Wikipedia article. There isn’t a single mention of the phrase “Asian American” in the article, yet an entire (albeit short) paragraph is dedicated to Penn being mugged earlier this year.
Talk about lazy reporting.
