Unable to Find Anyone to Take the Job, President Obama Appoints Kal Penn New Ambassador to Libya

Unable to Find Anyone to Take the Job, President Obama Appoints Kal Penn New Ambassador to Libya 0 out of 5 based on 0 ratings. 0 user reviews.

President Barack Obama announced earlier today that he had appointed “Harold and Kumar” star Kal Penn to be the new U.S. ambassador to Libya. The appointment of Penn followed an exhaustive search by Obama, who was unable to find anyone else willing to take the job following the deadly attacks earlier this month on the consulate in Benghazi, in which the U.S. ambassador was killed.

“A month ago, I couldn’t attend a fundraiser in Hollywood without a being hounded by celebrities like George Clooney and Tobey Maguire asking me for an ambassadorship,” President Obama told Hollywood & Swine. “Then all hell broke loose in the Middle East, and suddenly nobody wanted the job.”

Upon hearing the news of his appointment, Penn initially thought he was being filmed for a segment of MTV’s “Punk’d” TV show.

Accepting the dangerous job as U.S. ambassador to Libya isn’t the first time Penn has made a questionable career move for President Obama. In 2009, Penn gave up a role on Fox’s hit drama “House” in order to take a job in the Obama administration as a liaison to Asian-American groups.

Obama admitted his preferred choice for the Libya ambassadorship was “Harold and Kumar” co-star John Cho, but he is currently starring in the NBC comedy “Go On,” and was not available.

“When the White House called me and asked me to quit my show to take a government position, I laughed at them,” said Cho. “I saw how well quitting ‘House’ worked out for Kal’s career.”

The State Department feels confident that ambassador Penn’s security won’t be an issue, because of the popularity of the “Harold and Kumar” films in Libya.

“The last thing anyone in Libya would do is hurt Kumar,” said Penn. “Unfortunately, that means I have to stay in character every time I step out of the consulate.”

New Line Cinama, the studio behind the “Harold and Kumar” franchise revealed they have a contingency plan in case anything bad happens to Kal Penn in Libya, which includes recasting the role of Kumar with fellow Indian actor, Aziz Ansari.