One of the cringiest episodes of television ever is The Office Season 6’s “Scott’s Tots.” Office fans, you know what I’m talking about. If you don’t immediately recoil your entire body thinking about that ep, then I envy you. Essentially, Steve Carell’s character, Michael Scott, has to grapple with the fact that years earlier, he’d promised to pay for a local third grade class’ college tuition on the condition that they finished high school. Present-day Michael realizes that he does not have the money to do so and has to go tell the now-senior students that they aren’t getting the money.

Well, Michael Scott finally has a chance to make it right. I’m joking about the Michael Scott part, of course, but I’m not joking about Steve’s latest charitable endeavor. While doing his best Michael voice, Steve posted an announcement on YouTube to the hundreds of high school seniors in Altadena, California, many of whom were affected by the wildfires in January. Steve, who has long-supported the charity Alice’s Kids, announced that they were going to help pay for the teenagers’ prom tickets.

Steve Carell is making amends for a memorable but painful episode of The Office. The Golden Globe-winning actor announced in a video posted on YouTube that the charity Alice’s Kids will cover the costs of prom tickets for hundreds of high school seniors in Altadena after a series of wildfires ravaged much of Los Angeles in January.

“Attention! Attention, all seniors,” Carell said in a video posted to the charity’s YouTube channel.

“Alice’s Kids wanted me to let you know that they will be paying for all of your prom tickets. And if you’ve already paid for your prom tickets, they will reimburse you for your prom tickets,” he said. “It’s a pretty good deal.”

The Virginia-based children’s charity said that the prom promise will support approximately 800 students across six high schools, estimating the total cost to be around $175,000. Ron Fitzsimmons, the executive director of Alice’s Kids, said Carell was asked to announce the pledge because so many young people binge-watched The Office during the pandemic.

“Steve has supported us for years. When I started talking to principals about paying for the tickets, someone at some point actually mentioned Steve’s name … and he told me that Steve was actually pretty popular with high schoolers because they ‘discovered’ The Office during COVID and they saw Despicable Me,” Fitzsimmons said in an email to NPR.

“So, I came up with the idea of having Steve announce our gesture, and he agreed immediately to cut the video.”

Carell’s promotion of this charitable act calls to mind one of the most polarizing episodes of the beloved American series The Office.

In the season six episode “Scott’s Tots,” Carell’s character, Michael Scott, famously pledges to pay for a class of high school seniors’ college tuition, only to reveal that he lacks the funds to fulfill his promise. In contrast, students need not worry in this real-world scenario, as Alice’s Kids is fully covering the costs.

[From NPR]

This is really sweet. I cannot imagine what those poor children have been through over the past two months. So much of Altadena was destroyed by those fires. It’s really wonderful that Alice’s Kids is helping those students get to the prom. I may be a big dork, but I found it delightful that Steve announced it in that Michael Scott style. That was the only way to do it, right? It gets everyone’s attention while also giving these kids a wonderful memory. Also, I think it’s both fascinating and wild that we’re at that point in which teenagers are now binge-watching The Office in the same way that my fellow Millennials and I basically binge-watched all of the Nick at Night shows (Munsters/Lucy/Bewitched/Happy Days/etc). I thought I was old when I learned that the youngsters had discovered Friends. We are now an entire generation of series beyond that. Anyway, I hope those students have an amazing prom experience.

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photos credit: Getty and screenshots from YouTube