Silke Jasso
Kal Penn won’t stand for hatred from internet trolls.
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After President Trump signed executive orders to put a ban on immigration, preventing Syrian refugees and other Middle Eastern migrants (and even U.S. Green Card holders) from entering America, Penn took to Instagram to share the story of someone he knows who was affected by the orders.
“My friend Mike just sent this heartbreaking text about his refugee friend. Families are being torn apart. Shame on us. This is un-American. What Donald Trump and the Republican Party are doing is wholly unAmerican,” he wrote alongside a screen shot of a text message conversation.
In the comments section, one person decided to spew hatred at the “Designated Survivor” actor.
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“You don’t belong in this country you fucking joke,” the hater wrote.
Instead of getting mad, Penn got even.
“To the dude who said I don’t belong in America, I started a fundraising page for Syrian Refugees in your name. (Clickable link in my profile if you would like to donate!),” Penn wrote with a link to the CrowdRise page.
“We are better than the hateful people who tell us we don’t belong in our own country, that America can’t be a beacon of freedom and hope for refugees from around the world,” Penn wrote in the fundraiser’s description. “We will turn their bigotry, along with the President’s, into love.”
So far, the account has raised $216,000 and counting.
Penn was born in New Jersey to Gujarati immigrant parents. He previously worked in the White House under the Obama administration as an associate director in the Office of Public Engagement and now plays a fictional press secretary in the hit ABC show, “Designated Survivor.”
