Watching HOUSE M.D. (still my number 1 show) last night, I was astounded, along with millions of others, when Dr. Kutner, played by actor Kal Penn, was found dead on his apartment floor, an apparent suicide victim. This was an electric episode (with the night’s medical plot featuring a dying husband and wife… with the husband played very well by…get this… Meatloaf!) and drove me to the HOUSE web site immediately after to find a Memorial Page already set up to the memory of Dr. Kutner.
Why… why did they kill off one of the most popular (and funny) characters on the show? Money? Backstage conflict?
The reason is striking: Kal Penn is going to work at the White House!
I was incredibly honored a couple of months ago to get the opportunity to go work in the White House. I got to know the President and some of the staff during the campaign and had expressed interest in working there, so I’m going to be the associate director in the White House office of public liaison. They do outreach with the American public and with different organizations. They’re basically the front door of the White House. They take out all of the red tape that falls between the general public and the White House. It’s similar to what I was doing on the campaign.
…said Penn in an Entertainment Weekly interview.
Penn got involved during the campaign with a group called Asian Americans for Obama. Here’s a video from the campaign:
