Actor, former Obama aide Kal Penn raises US$500K for refugees

ENTERTAINMENT

Actor, former Obama aide Kal Penn raises US$500K for refugees

The Associated Press Published Monday, January 30, 2017 1:25PM EST Last Updated Monday, January 30, 2017 1:25PM EST

FILE - In this Sept. 10, 2013, file photo, Kal Penn arrives at CBS's 1st National TV Dinner Night at the CBS Radford Studios in Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Sayles /Invision/AP, File)

Text:

Actor Kal Penn has raised more than $500,000 for Syrian refugees after launching an online fundraiser over the weekend.

Penn also served as an associate director in former President Barack Obama's White House Office of Public Engagement. Penn, whose parents are Indian, responded to an Instagram commenter who told him he didn't "belong in this country" by launching the fundraiser Saturday and asking followers to donate to it in the commenter's name.

Penn says in an online video that he thought the fundraiser would simply be "an uplifting way to raise $2,500 bucks." He calls it "a beautiful way to resist" President Donald Trump's order to temporarily suspend immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations.

Penn starred in TV's "House" and in the "Harold & Kumar" films.

RELATED IMAGES

view larger image

Actor Kal Penn, left, stands with Michael Strautmanis, Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison, centre, and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, at the White House Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington in this April 13, 2009, file photo. (AP / Charles Dharapak)