Did 30 Rock predict Alec Baldwin's future? Resurfaced clip from 2007 shows his character Jack's fiancée being exposed for her fake European accent - just like real life wife Hilaria 13 years later
The scandal over Hilaria Baldwin over-exaggerating her Spanish heritage came as a shock to many - but perhaps not to fans of 30 Rock.
A clip from a Season 1 episode of the sitcom went viral on TikTok on Tuesday after an eagle-eyed fan realized that it appeared to predict Alec Baldwin's future back in 2007.
In the episode entitled 'Cleveland', Alec's character Jack Donaghy gets engaged to a woman named Phoebe (Emily Mortimer).
But the relationship unravels after Donaghy's coworker Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) discovers that Phoebe has been putting on a fake British accent.
The silly story line bears an unfortunate resemblance to the controversy plaguing Alec this week, after his wife of eight years Hilaria was accused of faking a Spanish accent.
A clip from a Season 1 episode of 30 Rock went viral on TikTok on Tuesday after an eagle-eyed fan realized that it appeared to predict the Spanish heritage scandal plaguing star Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria (above together in March)
In the episode titled 'Cleveland', Alec's character Jack Donaghy gets engaged to a woman named Phoebe (Emily Mortimer - right) who is revealed to be using a fake British accent
The online frenzy over Hilaria's true heritage kicked off last week when a woman tweeted: 'You have to admire Hilaria Baldwin's commitment to her decade long grift where she impersonates a Spanish person.'
In the next few days several videos of Hilaria's past TV appearances resurfaced showing her boasting about being born in Spain while using a Spanish accent, including one where she seemingly forgot the English word for 'cucumber'.
Yet Hilaria appeared to slip out of the accent last week when she posted an Instagram Live video that caused many to question what her real voice sounds like.
Phoebe's facade was similarly shattered in the 30 Rock episode that resurfaced in a TikTok video on Monday night.
'You don't know anything about me so back off,' Phoebe tells Liz without the same British accent she'd put on in earlier scenes.
Lemon reacts with a gasp and asks: 'What happened to your accent?'
A panicked look washes over Phoebe's face before she snaps back into the accent and says: 'Um, I don't know what you're on about, you daft w**ker.'
In the 30 Rock clip resurfaced on Monday, Phoebe forgets to use her British accent as she tells Liz Lemon (Tiny Fey): 'You don't know anything about me so back off'
When Liz calls Phoebe out on the missing accent she appears shocked and says: 'Um, I don't know what you're on about, you daft w**ker'
TikTok user looloo123457 captioned the clip: 'Tina Fey is a profit .'
Several commenters questioned whether the show inspired Hilaria's Spanish ruse, as the episode aired four years before she met Alec.
'It's like Hillary watched this and then made her move,' one user wrote.
'PLEASE TELL ME SHE DID NOT WATCH THIS AND USED IT FOR INSPIRATION,' another added.
Other commenters quipped that Alec should have seen Hilaria's antics coming.
'So you're saying Alec knew…' one wrote.
Another joked: 'When life imitates art!'
Hilaria revealed the truth about her upbringing in a rambling Instagram video on Sunday, saying: 'Yes, I am a white girl. I am a white girl. Let's be very clear that Europe has a lot of white people in there and my family is white. Ethnically, I am a mix of many, many, many things. Culturally, I grew up with two cultures so it's really as simple as that'
Alec has been Hilaria's fiercest defender against allegations that she misrepresented her Spanish heritage. The actor appeared exhausted as he ran errands in the Hamptons on Monday after issuing his first defense of Hilaria in an Instagram video the day before
Alec has been Hilaria's fiercest defender against allegations that she misrepresented her Spanish heritage.
The actor launched his latest attack against a critic on Monday night in the comments of an Instagram photo he posted referencing the scandal, which featured the famous Mark Twain quote: 'A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.'
A commenter quipped: 'Like your wife being Spanish when she lived in Massachusetts her entire life. I take it her accent is fake as well? FRAUDS!'
Alec's reply was scathingly succinct: 'Go f**k yourself.'
He took a more subdued swipe at another critic via Twitter just before the Instagram spat, in response to a post about an opinion essay for People entitled: 'Why the Hilaria Baldwin Scandal Is Painful for Immigrants — Including Me.'
The essay by Ale Russian slammed Hilaria for the 'exaggerated' accent she 'appropriated as an adult'.
Alec replied: 'Fake? Exaggerated? Appropriated an accent as an adult? She lived in Spain for many years as a child. She lived both places.'
The biting rebukes came as Hilaria's official agency biography was edited to remove any mention of her links to Spain.
The 36-year-old influencer's speaker's page on the Creative Artist Agency's website had for years misstated her birthplace, claiming: 'Baldwin was born in Mallorca, Spain and raised in Boston, Massachusetts.'
But that line was deleted shortly after Hilaria revealed the truth about her upbringing in a rambling Instagram video on Sunday, saying: 'Yes, I am a white girl. I am a white girl.
'Let's be very clear that Europe has a lot of white people in there and my family is white. Ethnically, I am a mix of many, many, many things. Culturally, I grew up with two cultures so it's really as simple as that.'
Alec launched his latest attack on Monday night in the comments of an Instagram photo he posted in reference to the scandal, which featured the famous Mark Twain quote: 'A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes'
A commenter quipped: 'Like your wife being Spanish when she lived in Massachusetts her entire life. I take it her accent is fake as well? FRAUDS!' Alec's reply was scathingly succinct: 'Go f**k yourself'
Alec took a more subdued strike at another critic via Twitter just before the Instagram spat, in response to an post about an opinion essay for People entitled: 'Why the Hilaria Baldwin Scandal Is Painful for Immigrants — Including Me'
Several former classmates came forward last week to confirm that Hilaria was in fact raised in Weston, Massachusetts, by American parents without a hint of a foreign accent.
'I went to high school with her. Genuinely lovely person, I recall, but fully a white girl from Cambridge,' one tweeted.
Another added: 'I went to high school with her. She was perfectly nice and serious about ballroom dancing. Her name was indeed Hillary Hayward-Thomas and she did not have her current accent.'
Internet sleuths were quick to uncover details about Hilaria's parents, Dr Kathryn Hayward and David Thomas, who lived and worked in the US for years before retiring to Majorca in 2011, according to Page Six.
While Hilaria has long described her mother as Spanish, records revealed that Hayward is in fact a fourth-generation Massachusetts resident who spent most of her career practicing medicine in Longmeadow.
Kathryn went on to become an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. She have birth to Hillary in January 1984 in Boston.
Dr Hayward's father and Hilaria's grandfather, Charles 'Chuck' Hayward, was born and raised in Massachusetts, as was his late wife Irene.
Hilaria's father's family has even deeper ties to the US, having lived here since before the American Revolution. He was an active volunteer for the Beacon Hill Civic Association during his '37 years living in Boston,' The New York Post reports.
Her parents also co-founded International Integrators in Boston.
Internet sleuths were also quick to uncover details about Hilaria's parents, Dr Kathryn Hayward and David Thomas, pictred, who worked in the US for years before retiring to Majorca in 2011
Hilaria finally came clean about her upbringing on Sunday telling fans she spent 'some of' her childhood in Spain and 'some' of it in Massachusetts
Hilaria finally came clean about her upbringing on Sunday telling fans she spent 'some of' her childhood in Spain and 'some' of it in Massachusetts.
'There was a lot of back and forth my entire life,' the Mom Brain podcaster explained.
'And I'm really lucky that I grew up speaking two different languages and I'm trying to raise my kids, so they speak two languages too. And that's something very important to me especially having my family abroad.'
Hilaria added: 'Yeah I'm a different kind of Bostonian but that's who I am, and you kind of can't change your background - nor would I want to - I'm really, really proud of who I am.'
She also noted that '44 people from Spain' attended her 2012 wedding to Oscar nominee Alec Baldwin, but she hasn't seen her family since September 2019 because of 'the pandemic'.
The NYU alum and her 62-year-old husband gave all five of their children Spanish names - daughter Carmen Gabriela, 7; son Rafael Thomas, 5; son Leonardo Ángel, 4; son Romeo Alejandro, 2; and son Eduardo 'Edu' Pao Lucas, 3 months.
As for her name, Hilaria said she'd use Hillary in the States and Hilaria in Spain.
'My whole family call me Hilaria. It always kind of bothered me that neither name sounds good in the other language. So I would use one or the other one,' she said.
Her video sparked a flurry of memes with some jokingly comparing her to Rachel Dolezal and Jessica Krug.
Krug, a professor of African American history at George Washington University, pretended to be black her entire career. Dolezal, a former NAACP leader, was unmasked as a white woman in 2015.