Billie Eilish genuinely thought U2 were from Scranton after being misled by The Office

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By Kim Novak

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Most people with a working knowledge of music are well aware of the fact that U2 is an Irish band - but Billie Eilish was convinced until recently that they were actually from Scranton, Pennsylvania.

The singer, 21, admitted she fully believed they were Scranton natives for the longest time - after being misled by The Office.

U2 - which consists of Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. - was formed in Dublin in 1976 and has been active ever since.

However, Billie was left very confused after they left flowers for her in her hotel room in Ireland last June... because why would a band from Scranton be leaving flowers for her in Ireland, after all?

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Bono and U2 are very much from Ireland and not Scranton, Pennsylvania. Credit: INTERFOTO / Alamy

Well, the confusion all stems from the fact Billie is a huge fan of The Office - and completely misunderstood a joke in the show.

Billie has previously estimated that she probably watched the hit sitcom around 30 times over the years and knows it so well she can listen to the audio without watching the screen and be able to visualize exactly what is happening.

However, her encyclopedic knowledge of the show led to a slightly red-faced moment last year, which she revealed to Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey - who played Pam Beesly and Angela Martin respectively - on their Office Ladies podcast.

She admitted that she got a lot of words wrong from watching the show from a young age, due to Steve Carrell's character Michael Scott using them incorrectly.

"Starting to watch The Office at a really young age, I almost didn't understand any reference whatsoever," she explained.

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Jim Halpert's joke in The Office went right over Billie's head. Credit: Maximum Film / Alamy

"There's so many things that are said, especially by Michael, in The Office that he says wrong on purpose, were written on purpose that I didn't even know the real word. So I said many words wrong because I learned them from Michael Scott."

It was this that also led to her only discovering last summer that U2 were Irish, as she revealed: "This last June we were in Ireland, I'm in my hotel and I get flowers delivered to my room and it has this little letter on it and it's this really sweet letter and it says 'from Bono'.

"And I was like, 'why would Bono, who's from Scranton, why would he send me something in Ireland? What does this have to do with him?'

"And it was like, 'welcome to my hometown' or something like that. But U2 is from Scranton. I kept asking everyone like, 'what is Bono doing sending me flowers all the way across the world? Why would he do that?' They were like, 'Billie, what are you talking about? They're Irish', I was like 'no they're not'."

In the series, Michael asks Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) whether U2 is the band from Scranton which made it big, to which Jim responds, deadpan, with "yes".

Due to the character's dry sense of humor when making fun of his boss, Billie didn't realize he was joking - and who knew this nugget of information would end up having such a significant role in her life so many years later...

Featured image credit:  AFF / Alamy 

Billie Eilish genuinely thought U2 were from Scranton after being misled by The Office

vt-author-image

By Kim Novak

Article saved!Article saved!

Most people with a working knowledge of music are well aware of the fact that U2 is an Irish band - but Billie Eilish was convinced until recently that they were actually from Scranton, Pennsylvania.

The singer, 21, admitted she fully believed they were Scranton natives for the longest time - after being misled by The Office.

U2 - which consists of Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen Jr. - was formed in Dublin in 1976 and has been active ever since.

However, Billie was left very confused after they left flowers for her in her hotel room in Ireland last June... because why would a band from Scranton be leaving flowers for her in Ireland, after all?

wp-image-1263188211 size-full
Bono and U2 are very much from Ireland and not Scranton, Pennsylvania. Credit: INTERFOTO / Alamy

Well, the confusion all stems from the fact Billie is a huge fan of The Office - and completely misunderstood a joke in the show.

Billie has previously estimated that she probably watched the hit sitcom around 30 times over the years and knows it so well she can listen to the audio without watching the screen and be able to visualize exactly what is happening.

However, her encyclopedic knowledge of the show led to a slightly red-faced moment last year, which she revealed to Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey - who played Pam Beesly and Angela Martin respectively - on their Office Ladies podcast.

She admitted that she got a lot of words wrong from watching the show from a young age, due to Steve Carrell's character Michael Scott using them incorrectly.

"Starting to watch The Office at a really young age, I almost didn't understand any reference whatsoever," she explained.

wp-image-1263188212 size-full
Jim Halpert's joke in The Office went right over Billie's head. Credit: Maximum Film / Alamy

"There's so many things that are said, especially by Michael, in The Office that he says wrong on purpose, were written on purpose that I didn't even know the real word. So I said many words wrong because I learned them from Michael Scott."

It was this that also led to her only discovering last summer that U2 were Irish, as she revealed: "This last June we were in Ireland, I'm in my hotel and I get flowers delivered to my room and it has this little letter on it and it's this really sweet letter and it says 'from Bono'.

"And I was like, 'why would Bono, who's from Scranton, why would he send me something in Ireland? What does this have to do with him?'

"And it was like, 'welcome to my hometown' or something like that. But U2 is from Scranton. I kept asking everyone like, 'what is Bono doing sending me flowers all the way across the world? Why would he do that?' They were like, 'Billie, what are you talking about? They're Irish', I was like 'no they're not'."

In the series, Michael asks Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) whether U2 is the band from Scranton which made it big, to which Jim responds, deadpan, with "yes".

Due to the character's dry sense of humor when making fun of his boss, Billie didn't realize he was joking - and who knew this nugget of information would end up having such a significant role in her life so many years later...

Featured image credit:  AFF / Alamy