President Obama Gave Kal Penn a Break from His White House Duties to Make ‘A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas’

It’s been 20 years since the beloved stoner comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle first hit theaters, which is why the titular burger chain offered a Harold & Kumar-themed meal earlier this year, consisting of a box full of 20 burgers, which had to be ordered between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. Thankfully, White Castle stopped short of asking customers to provide urine samples proving that they were, in fact, high as shit.

To celebrate the anniversary, the creatives behind the film, including stars John Cho and Kal Penn, chatted with Rolling Stone, describing the ins and outs of the film’s production. Penn also revealed that, despite the fact that the movie initially flopped in theaters, its eventual cult following included several high-ranking politicians — who still never bothered to legalize weed. 

Famously, Penn went on to work in the White House under President Barack Obama in 2009 after sending in a job application online, eventually serving as a “junior staffer and liaison to arts communities, young Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.”

According to Penn, his schedule became complicated when the third Harold & Kumar movie, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, got the greenlight forcing him to put in his notice. “After a briefing, I said to the president, ‘Sir, these are my last two weeks because they picked up the third option for Harold & Kumar,’” Penn recalled. “He goes, ‘Oh, man, I love those movies. That’s really funny stuff. Can you come back?’” 

Yes, Obama’s Harold & Kumar fandom allowed for Penn to take a seven-week hiatus from politics, purely so that he could make a movie in which Santa Claus gets brutally shot in the head.

Even weirder, Penn claims that Harold and Kumar were beloved by both folks in the Obama administration and members of the George W. Bush administration, including Bush’s Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, which is more than a little surprising seeing as Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay wasn’t exactly the most flattering portrayal of Bush’s America. 

Like, did Rove watch that movie thinking that Rob Corddry’s character was the hero? Although, to be fair, Bush (played by a lookalike obviously) shows up in the film’s climax to smoke a joint with the duo and pardon them for their “crimes.”

Penn also recounted the time that he met Bill Clinton while representing the White House at a youth conference, only to be told by the ex-president: “Your movies are funny as shit.” 

Penn remarked that “the fact that (love for the franchise) spanned at least three presidencies is very exciting to me,” adding, “I haven’t met anyone from the Trump administration to ask, but I do wonder if it can span four.”

Of course, Donald Trump has never publicly commented on Harold and Kumar, presumably because Harold and Kumar don’t appear anywhere in his favorite 45 minutes of Bloodsport. 

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