Wall Street Journal confuses Dev Patel with Kal Penn for some reason
Well, this is awkward.
On Friday, the Wall Street Journal published its review of new film Lion, a biopic about Indian Australian Saroo Brierley, starring actor Dev Patel. At least that was the intention.
But Pulitzer Prize-winning reviewer Joe Morgenstern confused the British Patel for New Jersey-born actor and former White House employee, Kal Penn.
A.K.A. a totally different person from a totally different country.
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"Saroo is played dazzlingly by Dev Patel, who gives his richest performance since The Namesake," Morganstern wrote in his glowing review. But 2006's The Namesake stars Kal Penn of Harold and Kumar fame.
Of course, the problematic gaff didn't go unnoticed by Twitter users.
@JoeMorgenstern Dev Patel wasn't in the Namesake. Did you mean the other brown actor (@kalpenn) or other brown film? :( #wsj #lionmovie pic.twitter.com/UhPtVKmJ5B
— Kelvin (@kelvindchen) November 25, 2016
@kelvindchen @kalpenn @JoeMorgenstern Loool I've seen the movie many times I'm pretty sure that's Kal 😂 #GoGol
— Marco Wina (@marco_wina) November 25, 2016
@kelvindchen @kalpenn @JoeMorgenstern Joe get the IMDB app, should help you in your research.
— TravelHD (@TravelHD_) November 25, 2016
@kelvindchen @kalpenn @JoeMorgenstern Wow. Just... wow. I for one can never forget your performance in The Namesake. It was pitch perfect.
— Kiran Khalid (@acereporter) November 25, 2016
Kal Penn himself retweeted the original complaint, following it up with a retweet of a Variety story, laying out the error.
The error was dutifully amended by WSJ. The review now includes an update that reads "An earlier version of this article misidentified Dev Patel as appearing in Mira Nair's 'The Namesake.'"
Morgenstern also issued a rather pithy acknowledgment of the mistake.
@EzraCubero @WSJ I do. What a dumb error.
— Joe Morgenstern (@JoeMorgenstern) November 24, 2016
