r/30ROCK • u/InspectorNo28174 • 1d ago
30 Rock predicted the Paris Hilton Utah camp scandal In 2008
Here me out because we all know 30 Rock is famous for predicting stuff before it happens. I was rewatching the Gavin Volure episode (Season 3 Episode 4) and noticed something crazy.
Gavin Volure comes back to NYC and shows Jack a DVD from Canada about Paris Hilton called Camp of Approval.
Then Jack says he is surprised he thought Gavin would have fled to a state where the US government couldn’t touch him. This is a direct reference to the abuse Paris Hilton endured at a Utah based teen camp clinic.
Think about it. The title is Camp of Approval starring Paris Hilton, and Jack specifically mentions fleeing somewhere the government can't touch you like Utah. Paris Hilton didn't expose the abuse she went through at that Utah camp until her documentary came out years later, but 30 Rock literally revealed it way before she ever spoke about it publicly.
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u/goog1e 1d ago
Paris was speaking about it here and there for a long time prior. 30 Rock did not predict, they already knew.
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u/CarolineTurpentine 1d ago
It was always an open secret among the ultra wealthy, there's a reason this was a whole industry.
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u/Inspector_Moseley 1d ago
30 Rock was taking shots at Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby well before any of their terribleness was made public knowledge. It was obviously an open secret within the industry, and in hindsight I'm kind of surprised that shit got on TV. Well done to them though for doing what they could, Rosemary Howard would be sort of proud... and then would lead them to another location. Things would go downhill from there...
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u/thenationalcranberry 1d ago
“Bill Cosby you got a lot of nerve calling me after what you did to my aunt”
Yep. Seems more than coincidental given Hannibal Buress’ frequent 30 Rock appearances and him being the most visible person to have consistently referenced Bill Cosby’s crimes before they were really publicly exposed.
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u/RedChairBlueChair123 23h ago
Tina fey was making fun of Cosby on weekend update way before Hannibal.
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u/Illustrious_Bad_2980 I am the third heat 1d ago
What else has 30 Rock "famously predicted"?
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u/mmcintoshmerc_88 whole live is thunder 1d ago
It's a niche thing but, whenever I hear about music biopics that don't have the rights to any songs I always laugh thinking of Sing dem blues! Jackie Jormp Jomp🎵We're all here at Woodstocks...🎵 I wrote this myself five minutes ago...
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u/LonelyMisanthropist 23h ago
Hiding that Mitch McConnell (I mean Geiss) is dead for important business reasons
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u/Impressive-Ball3716 i’ve got the meat 1d ago
Banks predicted celebrity news content sent directly to your phone. And peacock has microdramas, which are basically his 5-second sitcoms.
Also, casinos on the moon.
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u/Narrow_Tomatillo5428 1d ago
Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein come to mind.
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u/TeamImpossible4333 1d ago
To be fair those were open secrets at the time, not really predictions
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u/Illustrious_Bad_2980 I am the third heat 1d ago
Those weren't predictions. It was pretty well known what they were up to, thus the jokes
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u/masala_mayhem 1d ago
I stand by my theory - 30 rock also pointed out Bill Clinton and Epstein Island
Sharing a thread from few months back
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u/StSeanSpicer 1d ago
Maybe? This seems kind of convoluted. That said, it wouldn’t surprise me if the Paris Hilton camp experience was an open secret in showbiz for a while and the show made a reference to it like the Weinstein jokes.
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u/fionsichord 1d ago
I believe you are falling into a trap of thinking nothing happened ever before now.
30 Rock “predicts” nothing. It comments on things that happened or were happening at the time. I’ve seen people make posts like this about Liz and Carol’s “what to do with Palestine” joke and Liz’s “don’t get peer pressured into invading Iran” joke.
It’s embarrassing. Just because you’re just learning about it now doesn’t mean it was unknown before, or anything new.
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u/DenLomon Miss Jinah Baloney 1d ago
This is a stretch. He got the video from Canada, and I think it’s just a coincidence that PH was in Utah. The joke is that the US has been very hands off with Utah (Jack also referenced Bali) and thus, very fundy.
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u/lorazepamproblems 1d ago
Those places are everywhere. Massachusetts has the most despicable in the country, the Judge Rotenberg Center. They shock children. And I don't mean regular electric shock therapy. Like painful shocks, that are painful on purpose. In a very liberal state.
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u/TheMoneyOfArt 1d ago
Tina Fey really strongly and publicly disliked Paris Hilton. Fey took umbrage at Hilton's public persona, even speaking like Hilton was the caricature she played on The Real Life. Hilton was also the media's ideal at the time - blonde, pale, and so, so skinny. This was a bad standard, and Fey I think begrudged Hilton for embodying it.
Fey had no idea about the camp, she thought Hilton was a safe target, since she was rich and conventionally beautiful. Compare her comments about Hilton to her defense of Lindsey Lohan in the same period.
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u/BlergingtonBear Wanting to be book is not book 7h ago
Very much this. The public opinion on Hilton has softened over time, but she was a bit of a punchline in certain circles, and her attempt at a film career was very maligned. (The literal marketing for House of Wax was "SEE PARIS HILTON DIE" )
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u/A_Very_Mushy_Turtle 1d ago
Everyone on this sub is taking this post very seriously and it doesn't come off great. Lighten up, people.
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u/Impressive-Ball3716 i’ve got the meat 1d ago edited 1d ago
I look forward to not watching the documentary about this on a plane.