“Simpsons” The show has been a joke since it first aired on TV in 1989, but do the residents of Springfield also have the ability to predict the future? The answer is almost certainly not. But if you pay attention to internet rumors, you might think so.
There must be a time machine in the writers’ room for this show, because over the course of 35 seasons (and counting!) some of the plots seem to line up perfectly with real-life events. Numerous episodes have been proposed as evidence of this. Unfortunately, almost all of these are either pure coincidence or the product of a good old lie.
Let’s take a look at some of the most popular rumors about “The Simpsons.” Why predict the future and it proves not true. Who needs Nostradamus when you have Homer Simpson? Hmm.
let’s start!
![The Simpsons' Silicon Valley Bank](https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/400/https://media.snopes.com/2023/03/simpsons_silicon_valley_bank_crash_fake.png)
After Silicon Valley Bank failed in March 2023, an old “Simpsons” clip that allegedly predicted the bank’s failure resurfaced on the internet, even though it aired in 1995. In the clip, a terrified bank customer tries to withdraw all his money after making a payment. Bart tricks them into thinking the bank is heading for closure.
The clip in question shows the bank’s name as Silicon Valley Bank, but the scene was doctored. The original episode clearly states that the bank’s name is First Bank of Springfield. The clip may not have predicted the future, but it did parody a famous scene from the past movie, It’s a Wonderful Life.
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After then-U.S. President Donald Trump floated the idea of buying Greenland from Denmark in 2019, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said in 1995 that “The Simpsons” described exactly this scenario as “one word.” He tweeted that he had predicted “one phrase.”
It’s unclear if Murphy was just joking when he tweeted this, but some people online believe it to be true (even though nothing like this ever happened in the episode) I received it. In fact, it wasn’t until 2000 that Trump was first mentioned on the show.
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In 2017, then-US President Donald Trump was photographed touching an illuminated globe with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. . As a true internet fad, it didn’t take long before people started posting fake photos claiming that he had predicted this scene from “The Simpsons” in 2002.
Pictures of politicians turned into the Simpsons was In fact, this photo didn’t first appear in 2002; Instead, he first appeared on the internet on May 26, 2017, almost a week after the original photo was published.
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In August 2020, an explosion shook the city of Beirut, killing more than 200 people. Then, in one of the most horrifying examples of fake Simpsons prophecies, people started claiming that the show had predicted this tragedy, and even had clips to prove it.
Unfortunately, the clip in question was actually spliced together from two different episodes of the show. Both scenes involve explosions, but they are unrelated to each other, much less real explosions.
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In April 2019, the world-famous Notre Dame Cathedral caught fire and suffered extensive damage. At this point, it’s no surprise that internet users were quick to fabricate fake Simpsons prophecies about tragic events.
An image of Burns standing in front of the burning Notre Dame Cathedral in Springfield began to circulate online, but it turned out to be a doctored photo. Springfield’s Notre Dame Cathedral was actually featured in his 2007 episode, but the building’s flames and Mr. Burns’ presence were added later in an attempt to quickly impress his Internet users.
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According to a video posted online in August 2015, “The Simpsons” predicted Donald Trump’s presidency as far back as 2002. The video juxtaposed images of the real Trump with near-perfect clips from the show. Photo match.
While these clips were indeed real, they didn’t first appear in 2002. Instead, it first appeared in a promotional video for Fox’s “Animated Domination” lineup, uploaded in July 2015 after Trump announced his presidential bid. The person who created the image is not a psychic…just pay attention to the news!
![](https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/400/https://media.snopes.com/2018/07/ap_simpsons.jpg)
In 1994, “The Simpsons” featured a scene in which a school bully tries to put a note on his PDA that says “Hit Martin.” However, the device interestingly autocorrects this to “Eat Martha.”Many took this as proof of the show I was anticipating autocorrect and all the hilarious mix-ups it would cause.
This is actually an actual clip from the show, but there’s just one problem. Autocorrect he already existed in 1994. By 1993, Microsoft was heavily promoting Word’s autocorrect feature in its marketing materials. So, while the joke may have been funny, it didn’t predict the future.
![Did the Simpsons predict the thread?](https://mediaproxy.snopes.com/width/400/https://media.snopes.com/2023/07/homer_simpsons_ear.png)
Considering he’s baring everything for the world to see, it’s perhaps not surprising that there was a campaign to censor both the original David statue and the replica. However, some people mistakenly think that The Simpsons anticipated this censorship because of his 1990 episode in which a character wears blue jeans to a statue.
Although it was a hilarious scene, calls for censorship have actually been around ever since Michelangelo’s masterpiece was unveiled in 1504. So the show wasn’t anticipating the censorship, but was poking fun at the censorship that already existed around the statue. .
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The era of smartwatches didn’t start until around 2015, but what exactly are they doing in a 1995 episode of “The Simpsons”? In “Lisa’s Wedding,” a fortune teller gives Lisa a glimpse of the future . In one scene, her future husband is seen talking to a clock as if it were a phone.
Although this is an authentic scene from the show, the creators weren’t the ones who came up with this invention first. This history of his sci-fi gadgets goes back at least as far as his 1940s Dick Tracy cartoons. Since then, we’ve seen various fictional characters rock this high-tech gadget, and now it’s become a reality.
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In June 2023, underwater voyagers heading to the wreckage of the Titanic went missing. A few days later, the wreckage of the submarine was discovered, and all passengers were confirmed dead. After the tragedy, people again started making bizarre claims that “The Simpsons” had predicted this years ago.
In the 2006 episode, Homer uses a submarine to search for underwater gems, but eventually runs out of oxygen and is taken to the hospital. The episode’s plot vaguely follows real-life events in 2023, but it’s not similar enough to be considered anything other than a coincidence.