Kal Penn, or better known as Lawrence Kutner in the series House, has gained much attention from web searches because of his character's mysterious passing away. Kutner in House Season 5 Episode 20 “Simple Explanation” apparently took away his life by shooting himself in the head! This House S05E20 was spent by Dr. House looking for answers as to why Lawrence Kutner (Kal Penn) would do such a thing!
What's more odd is that House 5X20 publicized that the fans visit fox.com/kutner to see his character's sort-of tribute (with an in memoriam video to boot!). Here's an excerpt of what you can find there:
Mercer County Courier April 7, 2009Fans are also asking if the real actor Kal Penn of Harold and Kumar fame is also dead. Everyone's intrigued about the cryptic House episode tonight. Blogs for House MD thinks that "this shocking nature of Kutner's demise" is the show's "attempt at viral marketing", which is obviously working as viewers are flocking in websites that contain the House Kutner mysterious "passing away" information.
Dr. Lawrence Kutner died on Thursday, April 2nd from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 33 years old.
Dr. Kutner was a hard working, young doctor with a kind, unassuming, gentle manner. He will be missed by all of us", said Dr. Lisa Cuddy, Dean of Medicine at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, where Dr. Kutner worked.
Dr. Kutner was born in Freemont, California... in his early life as he lost his parents, Karamchand and Niki Baidwan, who were shot during an armed robbery. After a couple of years in foster care, Julia and Richard Kutner adopted Lawrence. He showed great promise in high school, winning a Westinghouse Science award for an experiment involving dark matter. His adoptive parents mused that he showed a freethinking, inventive streak from a young age.
Update! According Kal Penn's Twitter account (provided this is not fake), he's still alive and kicking since April 5. He was watching LA Lakers game when sent a mobile update!
FINAL UPDATE!!
At last, our question about what happened to House actor Kal Penn has been answered. YES, KAL PENN (KUTNER) IS LEAVING HOUSE! This is because Kal accepted a new post in the White House! Yes, he's leaving for President Obama as Kal is offered the Associate Director position in the White House Office of Public Liaison ! Wow, that seems to be a meatier role to play, right? Less pay but better "long term" opportunities. You can read it all in the Rediff News. There's also an interview in the Ausiello Files about this Kal Penn brouhaha in House too!
You can watch House Season 5 Episode 20 trailer below:
