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Steve Carell calls into high school assembly and announces he's buying 800 students' prom tickets

Carrell did a great thing, but that didn't stop him from going full Michael Scott.

alicewillhelp/Instagram

Steve Carell announces free prom tickets for seniors affected by southern California wildfires.

Actor Steve Carell showed up in a big way for high school students affected by the recent wildfires in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles. The Office actor, 62, partnered with charity Alice's Kids (@alicewillhelp), to pay for all seniors to attend prom at six different high schools in Altadena, California.

According to Alice's Kids founder and executive director Ronald "Ron" Fitzsimmons, Carell will be sending about 800 seniors to prom for free. Fitzsimmons told USA Today that Alice's Kids will donate about $175,000 in total.

The uplifting news was shared via Alice's Kids Instagram page, with a personal message from Carell that was played at each high school via video projection in auditoriums. "A special message from our friend Steve Carell. Right now, this is being viewed by every senior at the six high schools in Altadena, CA!! @stevecarellofficial," the video's caption reads.

“Attention. Attention all seniors. This is Steve Carell with a very special announcement. I work with a wonderful charity based out of Virginia called Alice’s Kids. And Alice’s Kids wanted me to let you know that they will be paying for all of your prom tickets,” he said in the video. “And if you have already paid for your prom tickets, they will reimburse you for your prom tickets. It’s a pretty good deal. Have fun. Enjoy the prom, and remember, this is Steve Carell.”

Fans of The Office will notice that the video is a subtle nod to the hit NBC show, where Carell played boss Michael Scott. During a 2009 episode from the sitcom titled "Scott's Tots," he promises to pay the college tuition for a group of third graders if they graduate. But when the time comes to cough up the cash, he doesn't have it. Thankfully, Carell's donation to Altadena students had a different outcome.

The video got an overwhelming response from viewers, many who caught on to The Office reference. "'Hey Mr. Scott! Whatcha gon’ do? Whatcha gon’ do? Make our dreams come true!' This is beautiful," one wrote. Another commented, "Love this! Scott’s Tots for the win!" And another added, "Scott’s tots is coming true!!"

Another wrote, "thank you so much for blessing our students at Pasadena HS with an unforgettable night of memories ✨️🌹🙏🏼." And another shared, "What a thoughtful way to celebrate kids who’ve lost so much!"

One viewer was also personally impacted: "THANK YOU FOR THIS!! MY SISTER IS ABLE TO GO TO PROM!!🫶🫶🫶," they wrote. still another added, "Thank you @alicewillhelp and @stevecarellofficial on behalf of my Muir Senior 💙💛🐴🙏🏽. You all are awesome!!!!! 👏🏽"

Fitzsimmons told USA Today that Carell and his wife, Nancy, have been involved with the organization for over seven years. The idea to donate tickets to prom came after making numerous calls to schools affected by the wildfires.

"That's when I thought, 'Well, let's do something later on. Later on, all the charities will be gone. The kids who are seniors will be going off somewhere,'" Fitzsimmons told the publication. "So that's when I thought, 'What can we do to lift them a little bit in a few months from now?' That's when the idea of prom tickets came up."

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Pop Culture

Guy watching 'The Office' on plane has 'mind blown' when he learns 'Dwight' is sitting next to him

The reveal was perfect.

via Wikipedia/The Office

'The Office' starring cast at the beginning of the third season.

Celebrities who want to avoid being harassed in public have found refuge over the past three years because they can wear masks to conceal their identities while protecting themselves from airborne diseases.

On April 13, actor Rainn Wilson, best known as Dwight Schrute on “The Office,” sat next to a fan in a plane and went unnoticed for over 5 hours because his mask concealed his identity. He had fun with the situation in an Instagram post where he secretly filmed the guy sitting next to him as he binge-watched “The Office” during the flight.

In the post, Wilson videos himself, wearing a mask, and slowly pans to the guy sitting next to him who is intently chowing down on a meal while watching “The Office.”

“When the person sitting next to you has no idea who you are ...,” Wilson captioned the video to his more than 3.3 million followers on Instagram.

After the video went viral, countless people asked Wilson whether the guy beside him realized who he was. So he did a follow-up post on the video's second slide where he explained the big reveal. “Everyone keeps asking me did the guy ever recognize you? And, yes, so after five hours of watching ‘The Office,’ I finally nudged him,” he said.

“I was like, ‘Oh, it seems like you like that show.’ And I was slowly taking my mask off," Wilson continued. "And he’s like, ‘Yeah, I really liked it a lot.’"

Wilson’s anonymity allowed him to get an honest opinion of the show he starred in for 9 seasons. "I was like, ‘Oh, I heard it was not so good,’ Wilson recalled. "He’s like, ‘Well, it starts really slow and the first season is kind of questionable.’”

“And I was slowly taking my mask off, and I was like, ‘Oh, not so good, huh, the first season?’ he said.

“He’s like, ‘Yeah, but once you get into it and get to know the characters.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, but that first season kind of sucks. Is it really bad? That’s too bad that the first season sucks,’” Wilson continued before completely removing his mask and exposing his true identity.

When the guy realized who it was, Wilson says his “head exploded,” and the two “had a nice laugh.”

“So, happy ending,” Wilson concluded the post.

A testament to Wilson’s sense of humor was his patience in the funny situation. He could have revealed who he was when his seatmate first started watching “The Office.” But he waited over 5 hours before the big reveal, making the situation even more surreal.

Funny enough, the thing about the video that received the most comments was that the guy on the plane wasn’t a huge fan of season one of “The Office.”

The most popular comment on the post, which received nearly 5500 likes, was by its_bnv, who took real issue with the guy’s opinion. "First season sucks? Did he not watch diversity day?! One of the best episodes of the entire series."













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Rainn Wilson slams racism denial with a 'chilling' photo of a noose hanging in his friend's yard.


Michael Loccisano/Getty (left) Rainn Wilson/Instagram (right)

This photo should strike terror in the heart of all of us, as it symbolizes a heinous piece of American history.

Rainn Wilson, the actor best known for playing Dwight Schrute on NBC's "The Office," has taken to Instagram with a photo and a story that reminds us that racism in America is unfortunately alive and well.

The photo shows a tree in the front yard of a suburban L.A. home with a noose hanging from one of its branches.

"So my friend Jamey texted me this photo," Wilson wrote. "Looks pretty innocent at first, right? But when you learn that he and his sister are African American, the photo turns instantly chilling. This was hung in a tree in her front yard in suburban Los Angeles, to be found by her seventeen year-old daughter."

Imagine being a 17-year-old Black American, stepping out your front door, and facing this scene. Would you feel safe? Would you feel protected? Would you feel that America is a place where racism isn't allowed to thrive?

You might feel understandably threatened. You might call the police with your concerns. That's what Wilson's friend did.

"When the police were called they said, essentially, 'what's the big deal?'" Wilson shared. "Yolanda lost it. What's the big deal? Well, officer, the noose is the symbol of lynching which was used to hang thousands of African Americans, especially by the Klan. Granted, this is a pretty lame noose. Might have been made by some local kids or something. Who knows. But the fact is it is as strong a symbol of racial hatred, violence and oppression as a Swastika."

Yes, this is 2019. And we still have to explain the history of lynching in America and why a noose hanging in a Black person's yard is, in fact, a big deal.

Wilson explained that far too many Americans are in denial about racism in the U.S.

"Many folks are in denial about the extent to which racism exists in our country in 2019," Wilson continued. "Just ask a Black Person. They will tell you stories."

(For the record, asking random Black people to share their stories of racism for your own education isn't actually a great idea. Basically, that's like asking people to open their wounds so you can look inside to make sure they're actually hurt. There are countless stories of racism that people have graciously shared online and in books that you can read without asking for extra emotional labor to be done. Alternatively, try truly befriending some Black people and wait for them to feel comfortable enough with you to open up and share.)

Wilson shared another story from his friend:

"Jamey told me today that last year, while playing golf, he was looking for his ball in the brush and a white guy who wanted to play through called out 'Hey, you can hurry up, we don't have you picking cotton anymore!' Not sure if he was trying to be funny or not but literally Jamey's great grandfather was an ACTUAL SLAVE on a plantation and was regularly beaten there. That's not that long ago. Great grandfather. And, perhaps, a relative or two of Jamey's were lynched. Or saw a lynching. Or heard of a lynching. And now, his niece gets to be reminded of what hate looks like. Right in her own front yard in suburban LA."


If your first response is to assume this story is a 'hoax,' think long and hard before sharing that thought.

People who want to deny that racism is a real thing are already twisting themselves into knots trying to call this story a hoax. Here's the problem with that:

1) Hanging a noose in a Black person's yard is racist no matter which way you slice it. Even if it was set up as some silly schoolyard joke, the joke itself is racist and harmful, and obliviousness to that fact is a clear manifestation of racism in our society.

2) Assuming or implying that a Black person you don't know would set this scene up themselves to get attention is a racist assumption. If you believe that Black people make these things up more often than not, then a) You clearly aren't close to very many Black people, and b) Your mental image of Black people is racist. If your automatic presumption is that this can't be true, then you you haven't been paying attention to the last several hundred of years of American history and/or you are looking at that history through a lens of white supremacy.

The impulse to automatically question or challenge a Black person's story is a racist impulse that needs to be checked.

And checking it really isn't that complicated. It's not hard to choose to listen to thousands of similar stories and believe them. It's not hard to recognize that racism didn't just magically disappear with the Civil Rights Act, especially since large numbers of people actively opposed its passage. It's past time to shift the benefit of the doubt toward the groups who have been demonstrably abused and silenced in our country, and to speak out against racism whenever we see it rear its head.

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John Krasinski's scary hit movie has a heartwarming backstory about inclusion.

"A Quiet Place" features a deaf actress in a central role and it's a huge hit.

The horror thriller made over $50 million during its opening weekend, which is especially impressive for a movie that's not part of a franchise or a comic book. First-time director John Krasinski (aka Jim Halpert from NBC's "The Office") has received critical acclaim, particularly for insisting on casting Millicent Simmonds, a 14-year-old deaf actress, to play his character's daughter.

"After we landed on the concept, we had to define how people interacted in that world. How do you survive without sound?" co-writer Bryan Woods said. "The most important part of the film outside of its concept is the family and its issues. In our minds, the issues pre-date the monster event."

Simmonds' role gave the film more depth but also brought greater empathy for the deaf community.

Woods and co-writer Scott Beck said that Simmonds casting changed the on-set dynamic, helping highlight the experiences and challenges a person who is deaf can have outside the larger than life confines of their script.

"We always had a deaf character in the script, but John really pushed for them to hire Millicent," Beck said. "She came to set and taught everyone sign language. It was really amazing and brought an extra depth to the film."

The casting is also an important lesson about inclusion that Hollywood can learn from.

Even in 2018, building bridges of inclusion is a struggle in Hollywood. It would have been easy for Krasinski to cast an actress who wasn't deaf. But in pushing for authenticity, he gave a perfect opportunity to an actress like Simmonds while also opening up his cast to an experience that brought greater depth to their own roles.

Other films have faced backlash for being less inclusive. The forthcoming film "Anything" was criticized for casting a cisgender man in the role of a transgender woman — even though the film's producer is transgender. While those behind the film acknowledged the criticism, it's just another example that Hollywood has a long way to go in pursuing diversity across all facets of production.

It's not about saying "no" to anyone. It's about saying "yes" to a broader spectrum of voices and talents.

Audiences are supporting more diverse films with their hearts and their wallets.

Krasinski did the right thing and should be commended for that. And his screenwriters say it was smart creatively as well. Plus, over $50 million at the box-office is hard to argue with.

If the last few years have shown us anything it's that audiences are hungry for more inclusive forms of storytelling.

After all, "Black Panther" just passed "Titanic" on the all-time box office charts. With his own film, Krasinski showed us how to be more inclusive and he can take all of that goodwill straight to the bank.

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