Simpsons Predicts the Future

About

Simpsons Predictions refers to a series of conspiracy theories and coincidences that connect present-day current events to past episodes of the animated sitcom The Simpsons. These events are not limited to conspiracy theories and newsworthy events and can encompass anything that features the series

Origin

The earliest known prediction was posted by conspiracy theory message board Loose Change user Howie.^[1] On July 26th, 2006, the user posted that The Simpsons predicted the Semptember 11th, 2001 attacks using a screen-capture from the 1997 episode "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" that features Lisa Simpsons holding an advertisement for bus tickets to New York City. The image (shown below) shows the number 9 right next to the World Trade Center, which causes the sign to resemble the date "9/11."

Spread

On August 11th, 2009, College Humor^[2] issued a list of jokes and situations made in the show that were eventually found to happen in real life years after the episodes aired. Similar lists were made on BuzzFeed ^[3] and other media blogs and sites such as What Culture^[4] and Mashable. ^[5]

On June 25th 2012, the Tumblr "Simpsons Did It" was launched^[8], posting real life examples reminiscent from the show. The first post shows a real-life example of a boy getting his arm stuck in a vending machine, which happened to the character Homer Simpson in the 1993 episode "Marge on the Lam."

On January 15th, 2012, Redditor ^[9] pompadis launched the subreddit /r/simpsonsdidit. As of February 2018, the subreddit has more than 39,000 subscribers.

Three-Eyed Fish

On October 27th, 2011, Gizmodo reported that a fisherman in Córdoba, Argentina caught a three-eyed fish in a reservoir near a nuclear power plant, which is very similar to the three-eyed fish "Blinky," which was introduced in the 1990 episode "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish."

Higgs Boson Particle

On July 4th, 2012, a group of physicists announced that they had spotted a new particle that is consistent with the Higgs boson particle after a successful collision of the Large Hadron Collider.

However, the formula for the Higgs boson particular was similar to the formula crafter by Homer Simpson (shown below) in the 1998 episode "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace."

Greece's Economic Collapse

On January 8th, 2012, the episode "Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson" aired. During the episode, Homer appears on a news programs and in chyron scroll at the bottom of the screen, in one scene, reads, "Europe Puts Greece on Ebay." The joke was made two years before the economic collapse in Greece.

Siegfried & Roy Attacked By Tiger

In 2003, the pair of German magicians, known for their stage show that includes white tigers were attacked by one of their tigers, mirroring the 1993 episode "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)."^[23]

2013 NSA Surveillance Scandal

On June 5th, 2013, The Guardian^[24] published an exclusive report that the U.S. National Security Agency is collecting the telephone records of millions of customers of Verizon. The article detailed a classified order from the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which was obtained by the U.K. daily newspaper and made publicly available on its website^[2], directing Verizon's Business Network Services to hand over all "telephony metadata" created by the mobile service provider within the United States and abroad.

The controversy seemed to referenced in the 2007 Simpsons Movie in whcih one scene features members of the NSA listening to the phone calls of private citizens, including Marge and Lisa Simpson.

FIFA Scandal

In 2014, The Simpsons episode "You Don't Have to Live Like a Referee" features the vice president of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) being arrested on corruption charges. One year later, 14 people connected with FIFA were arrested for corruption. Additionally, the episode predicts that Germany would win the World Cup, which they did in 2015.

Trump Conspiracy Theories

On March 29th, 2000, The Simpsons episode "Bart to the Future aired."^[10] In the episode, a reference to the character Lisa Simpson being the successor to United States President Donald Trump being president is made.^[6]

On August 29th, 2015, YouTuber ^[11] DAHBOO77 posted a video entitled "Simpsons Episode from 2000 Predicts TRUMP Becomes President and More." The post (shown below, left) uses footage from a 2015 Simpsons clip (shown below, right) about Trump's campaign and mistakenly refers to it as a clip from 2000. Within two and a half year, the post received more than 1.8 million views.^[12]

The day after Trump's victory in the 2016 presidential election, Facebook ^[13] user 30clips posted an image of various examples from the above clip, as well as 2012 clip that seemingly predicts the electoral college map in the 2016 election. They captioned the post, "Not only did the Simpsons predict Trump winning, they even "predicted" the electoral map and they got it right.
#MakeAmericaGreatAgain #SimpsonTrump." The post (shown below) received more than 41,000 reactions, 17,000 shares and 344,000 shares in a little over two years. However, Snopes ^[14] points out that the electoral maps are not identical.

Nobel Prize

In the 2011 episode "Elementary School Musical," Lisa and her friends make a list of people that she predicts would win the Nobel Prize. The character Martin picks Bengt R. Holstrom to win the Nobel Prize in economics. In 2016, Holstrom won the prize with Oliver Hart.^[25]

Dressed Michaelangelo's David

In 2015, people in St. Petersburg, Russia campaigned for censored version of Michaelangelo's seminal artwork David, a statue of a naked man.^[26] The campaign mirrored the 1990 episode in which Marge, after arguing for censorship of cartoon, disagrees with the masses to censor David.

Lady Gaga Halftime Show

On February 5th, 2017, at the beginning of the halftime show at Super Bowl LI, Lady Gaga sang a mashup of American folk songs "God Bless America" and "This Land Is Your Land," recited a bit of the American Pledge of Allegiance, then jumped from the roof of NRG Stadium and was lowered onto her stage via cables. The moment, shown below, immediately sparked jokes and pop culture comparisons on social media.

A few Twitter users and media outlets noted that Gaga's performance bore a strong resemblance to her appearance on The Simpsons episode "Lisa Goes Gaga" from 2012. In the clip, shown below, Gaga is lifted above her Simpsons-character fans, which many found similar to the way Lady Gaga entered the Super Bowl. The Daily Dot ^[5] and Huffington Post both covered the similarity.

Disney Purchase 20th Century Fox

On December 14th, 2017, people online pointed out how The Simpsons joked about Disney purchasing 20th Century Fox in 2017 on a November 8th, 1998 episode, entitled "When You Dish Upon a Star." That day, Redditor^[15] 9kz7 posted a gif of the 20th Century Fox lot with the words "A Division of Walt Disney Co" written on it. The post (shown below) received more than 49,000 points (92% upvoted) and 1,000 comments in less than six hours.

2018 Winter Olympics

On February 24th, 2018, Simpsons-writer Josh Weinstein tweeted a side-by-side image of a headline that reads "Rogue Squirrel runs onto Olympic course, narrowly avoids snowboarder" next to Homer Simpson and Mr. Burns in a cabin sliding down in an avalanche caused by a "rogue squirrel. The image is captioned, "Simpsons predicted it." The post (shown below, left) received more than 890 retweets and 3,500 likes.

That day, Twitter^[17] published a Moments page about the post and reaction to it.

On February 25th, the United States curling team defeated the team from Sweden for the gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics. This moment (shown below, right) was predicted on the February 14th, 2010 episode "Boy Meets Curl."^[16]

Las Vegas Stanley Cup

On May 26th, 2018, Twitter^[18] user @cotsonika tweeted a screen-capture from the 1999 episode of The Simpsons "Viva Ned Flanders." In the image, a Stanley Cup trophy can be seen in the hotel room where Homer Simpson and Ned Flanders are staying. However, the episode was produced 19 years before Las Vegas had an official hockey team, the Golden Knights. They captioned the tweet, "In 1999, before “The Hangover” and the Golden Knights, Homer Simpson and Ned Flanders had the Stanley Cup in Vegas." The post (shown below) received more than 3,200 retweets and 7,200 likes in three days.

That day, Twitter^[19] user @WoolyGoalie tweeted a video of the clip from the series and included narration of the conspriacy theory, explaining its significance. They captioned the post, "Hey @OverDrive1050 did I just stumble onto the Biggest Conspiracy of 2018? In this episode of The Simpson's, The Stanley Cup is in the background of Homer & Ned's Las Vegas hotel room! I better put $100 on them eh?" Within three days, the post (shown below) received more than 1,000 retweets and 2,500 likes.

Additionally, that day, Twitter^[20] published a Moments page about the prediction and the reaction to it.

Hey @OverDrive1050 did I just stumble onto the Biggest Conspiracy of 2018? In this episode of The Simpson's, The Stanley Cup is in the background of Homer & Ned's Las Vegas hotel room! I better put $100 on them eh? pic.twitter.com/JwH1yknAYt

— Adam Wooldridge (@WoolyGoalie) May 26, 2018

Coronavirus and Murder Hornets

On May 5th, 2020, Twitter user @didgeridougrou tweeted a clip from the 1993 episode "Marge in Chains." In the episode, an Asian-borne virus hits Springfield. When a mob confronts Dr. Hibbert, the town's most famous physician, they accidentally knock over a case of "Killer Bees." The tweet implies that the episode predicted two major 2020 events: the coronavirus outbreak and the Murder Bees Invasion. The post received more than 7 million views, 368,000 likes and 103,000 retweets (shown below).

Shit the simpsons really did predict 2020 pic.twitter.com/dadM5jvLrB

— Eddie D’ohgrou (@didgeridougrou) May 6, 2020

That day, former Simpsons writer commented on the clip, writing "ok fine i guess we did." The post received more than 49,000 likes and 7,500 retweets (shown below).

ok fine i guess we did https://t.co/Nf4suyC8A3

— BILL OAKLEY (@thatbilloakley) May 6, 2020

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