Penn. School Board Cancels Gay “30 Rock ”Actor's Anti-Bullying Talk Because of His Political Activism and 'Lifestyle'

"He is proud of his lifestyle and I don’t think that should be imposed upon our students,” said Cumberland Valley School District board member Bud Shaffner

Former 30 Rock actor Maulik Pancholy was disinvited from an anti-bullying speaking engagement at a Pennsylvania middle school, per footage from the Cumberland Valley School District's public meeting on Monday, April 15.

Pancholy, who is openly gay, was originally scheduled to give a talk for an anti-bullying assembly at Mountain View Middle School in Mechanicsburg, Penn. on May 22.

However, he will not appear at the middle school due to concerns about his political activism and what two school board members referred to as his “lifestyle.” The Cumberland Valley School District unanimously voted to cancel the assembly.

In addition to portraying Alec Baldwin's overzealous assistant in 30 Rock, Pancholy also voiced Baljeet in Phineas and Ferb. Along with his acting credits, Pancholy, 50, also delivers keynote speeches “on the topic of diversity and inclusion,” according to his website.

“If you research this individual, he labels himself as an activist, he is proud of his lifestyle and I don’t think that should be imposed upon our students, at any age,” board member Bud Shaffner said during the meeting.

Another board member, Kelly Potteiger, shared her concerns that the actor would discuss his children’s book The Best at It, which follows a gay Indian American boy. “It’s not discriminating against his lifestyle — that’s his choice,” Potteiger said. “But it’s him speaking about it.”

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Shaffner also told TODAY.com that he had concerns the speaker would discuss politics and “go off script,” adding, “Politically motivated discussions belong at home and not in the classroom.”

“A number of board members went to his website and what stuck out to all of us is that he’s a political activist,” said Shaffner.

Cumberland Valley School District spokesperson Tracy Panzer also shared with TODAY.com that Pancholy’s visit was not on the meeting’s original agenda. She explained one board member motioned to rescind the invite, and the board unanimously voted to cancel his speaking engagement.

Following the meeting, former Mountain View Middle School parent, Trisha Comstock, started a Change.org petition to “challenge this narrative by reinstating the assembly with Maulik Pancholy.”

Additionally, some former students have spoken out against the board’s decision to cancel Pancholy’s appearance.

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Brooke Ryerson, former student and member of the LGBTQ community, shared she and her mother will be attending the board’s next meeting on May 6 to express their disappointment in the vote. “It was going to be an assembly about empathy and anti-bullying,” the 16-year-old told TODAY.com. “But that doesn’t matter to the board. They want to silence us in any way they can.”

Tony Conte, another former student, shared an open letter to Shaffner on Facebook. He opened up about his experience as a closeted gay teen and revealed that he “considered suicide from time to time.”

“I think that if I had heard from diverse voices like (Pancholy's) in an auditorium setting telling me that it was okay to be different, maybe my middle and high school experience could have been different,” wrote Conte. “A presentation of this sort could have saved a life, like the life of my friend.”

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Representatives for Pancholy and Cumberland Valley School District did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for more information on Wednesday.

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