Pennsylvania school district cancel’s actor’s speech over concerns of activism, ‘lifestyle’

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. – A Pennsylvania school district has canceled an upcoming look through actor and kids’s ebook writer Maulik Pancholy after district leaders cited concerns about what they described as his activism and “lifestyle.”

Pancholy, who’s homosexual, was once scheduled to talk in opposition to bullying all the way through a May 22 meeting at Mountain View Middle School in Cumberland County. However, the district’s school board voted unanimously Monday evening to cancel his communicate after some participants voiced their concerns and others famous the district’s coverage about now not website hosting openly political occasions, news shops reported. The coverage was once enacted after the district was once criticized for website hosting a rally through Donald Trump all the way through his 2016 marketing campaign for president.

Pancholy, 48, is an award-winning actor, together with for his roles at the tv displays “30 Rock” and “Weeds,” and because the voice of Baljeet at the Disney animated collection, “Phineas & Ferb.” He additionally has written youngsters’s books and in 2014 was once named through then-President Barack Obama to serve at the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the place he co-founded a marketing campaign to battle AAPI bullying.

Pancholy’s look was once scheduled through the school’s management staff, which each and every yr schedules an writer presentation as a “unique educational experience for students,” according to the district.

While discussing the appearance at Monday night’s meeting, school board members said they did not know what Pancholy’s talk would be about, but one member said he didn’t “want to run the risk” of what it might entail.

“If you research this individual, he labels himself as an activist,” Bud Shaffner mentioned, according to Pennlive. “He is proud of his lifestyle, and I don’t think that should be imposed upon our students, at any age.”

The Associated Press sent an email message to Pancholy’s publicists Thursday afternoon.

The board’s vote sparked grievance from a number of folks, scholars and group participants who known as the verdict “homophobic.” Some have began on-line petitions urging that Pancholy’s look be reinstated.