Kal Penn’s Death On House, Or, Why Do Brown People Always Have To Die?

Lawrence Kutner, Kal Penn’s character on the series House, is (one would likely assume) no longer on the show, as he was found dead in his home in a pool of blood. Dr. House spent the duration of the show attempting to figure out whether Kutner’s death was suicide or murder. But it’s so much simpler than all that: Minority characters? Are always expendable.

Here are some examples:

Friends - Aisha Tyler

One of the funniest actresses working today had a short-lived role on the popular series amidst criticisms that the show, set in New York City, failed to feature any minorities among its castmembers of guest stars. She stuck around for one reason, now that she obviously disproved that criticism. 

Seinfeld - George’s Black Friend ™

Remember that one episode, first aired in 1995, wherein George tries to prove he has a black friend? He does not. Also, Jerry once went on a date with a Chinese woman (by mistake) and tried not to insult his Native American date, but it didn’t work. While the show’s portrayal of minorities weren’t always PC, it did show that New York City is, in fact, not entirely made up of white friends who drink coffee and work in glamorous jobs while living in apartments they could never realistically afford. It can also be argued that the people portrayed as being the most awful on the show were, in fact, its white leads.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - F.J. Rio as “Enrique Muniz”

Muniz enjoyed having more and more screen time until he was killed in the show’s 5th season while saving a gringo. Them’s the breaks.

Lost - Michelle Rodriguez as “Ana Lucia Cortez” 

Michelle Rodriguez insists her character was not killed off because of her own offscreen antics, which leaves us to assume she was killed because of the Token Principle - There can only be one of any specific minority group on the show for any meaningful period of time, and that’s already covered by the character of Hurley Reyes. More than one Latino? What is this, The George Lopez Show? 

Heroes - Like seriously every minority character gets offed after a while

Black, white, Asian, Latino, purple with green spots - it doesn’t matter what your race or ethnicity are on the show (as long as that doesn’t include “White” or “Anglo” or “that one Asian guy”), you’re going to get killed off. Why? Again, tokenism. Two Asian guys on the show? What is this, a show about Asians? How will audiences or corporate sponsors possibly know how to deal with that? It’s straight up craziness. 

24 - Kal Penn as “Ahmen Amar”

Not only did he play a terrorist (who was of a different ethnicity than Penn, but, really, who’s noticing?), he played a terrorist who had to die. Tough break, Kal. 

We’re sure you can come up with other examples of minorities who lasted on a show only long enough to fulfill a “purpose,” and then made a quick exit. At what point are minorities going to be featured on a show that’s not actually about or necessarily created by minorities (George Lopez, Desi Arnaz, Margaret Cho),  that can exist for a long period of time as a complex and interesting character in their own right, instead of as a foil for the token minority character or white lead?

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House’s Lawrence Kutner: Kal Penn Death [Blue Star Chronicles]