Kal Penn is switching houses.
Fans were stunned by last night’s suicide of Dr. Lawrence Kutner, struggling to understand what had driven Kutner to commit such an act without displaying any outward signs of depression.
The answer is politics.
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The White House has hired Kal Penn, the Indian-American actor who plays Kutner, as a liaison between President Barack Obama’s administration and arts groups.
Leaving with a bang before going to work for Bam, Penn’s Kutner was found in his apartment lying in a pool of his own blood, after shooting himself in the head.
Many fans are taking to fan sites to express waves of grief and anger over the sudden suicide.
“I am so distressed over this!! No warning, no idea that we were going to lose him!! I do not understand why this had to be this way!” one fan wrote on a Facebook fan page that Fox set up through a Dr. Kutner memorial page.
Another commenter wrote, “I am so sad. I feel like I lost someone close to me, like a dear friend…Dr. Kutner, you will be missed by many. How will the show go on without you?”
By midday, the Facebook page had over 11,000 fans and thousands of comments expressing disbelief and sorrow — some even providing suicide hotline numbers to raise awareness.
Many did extend congratulations to Penn for his new White House gig, with one commenter writing, “Good luck in the White House! What a tremendous opportunity. I understand now why you chose to leave the show, congrats!”