The iconic animated TV show is known to predict major world events – from Donald Trump’s presidency to the discovery of a three-eyed mutated fish to the creation of London’s The Shard skyscraper.
Here are some of the original predictions from The Simpsons’ four-decade-long series — and the real-life events that happened years later…
Mystic Marge… Maggie, Homer, Lisa and Bart: The iconic animated TV show is known for envisioning major world events
1: WRONG VOTING
FORECASTED IN: Treehouse of Horror XIX – 2008
CAME OUT IN: Pennsylvania, USA – 2012
In 2008, Homer was seen trying to vote for Barack Obama in the US general election, but the machine kept changing his vote to Republican John McCain.
Four years later, it was discovered that a voting machine in Pennsylvania switched people’s votes from Obama, who was running for a second term, to Republican rival Mitt Romney.
manipulated? Homer was unable to vote for Obama in 2008
2: OSAKA FLU AKA CORONAVIRUS
PREDICTED IN: Margin In Chains – 1993
CAME OUT IN: Wuhan, China – 2019
The episode featured a Far Eastern virus called the Osaka flu that was transported around the world infecting the citizens of Springfield, who ordered Japanese juicers coughed up everywhere by infected factory workers.
COVID-19 was first reported in China in December 2019. In March 2020, it was declared a global pandemic.
Ay Corona! The show foreshadowed the coronavirus with its fictional Osaka Flu
3: TOM HANKS HAS TO SELF-ISOLATE
FORECASTED IN: The Simpsons Movie – 2007
CAME OUT IN: Gold Coast, Australia – 2020
The Hollywood actor and his wife, Rita Wilson, caught COVID-19 while filming Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic on location in Australia in March 2020.
As a result, he and Rita had to go into isolation.
In 2007’s The Simpsons Movie – the big screen version of the TV show – Hanks makes a cameo appearance, saying, “This is Tom Hanks saying if you see me in person, please leave me alone.”
(Out)Cast Away: Tom Hanks warned viewers to ‘leave me alone’ in 2007
4: THE CREATION OF THE SHARD
FORECASTED IN: Lisa’s wedding – 1995
CAME OUT IN: London, UK – 2009
When Lisa visited a fortune teller, she foresaw that she would one day marry a British man.
In the episode, she flies to London – where the skyline has a tall, pointy building.
Fans have branded this as a prediction that The Shard would one day become a permanent fixture of London architecture – eventually built in 2009 and opened in 2013.
Up The Shard: Lisa’s premonition predicted the London landmark
5: DONALD TRUMP BECOME PRESIDENT
FORECASTED IN: Bart To The Future – 2000
CAME OUT IN: USA – 2016
In another flash-forward episode, Lisa is the President of the United States, having succeeded Donald Trump.
She laments the financial slump in which Trump has left the country following his departure from office.
This episode aired 16 years before even the idea of Trump taking over the White House was a possibility. He was elected the 45th President of the United States on November 9, 2016.
President Lisa: A flash-forward saw Lisa picking up the slack from an ex-President Trump
6: BLINKY THE THREE-EYED MUTANTFISH
PREDICTED IN: Two cars in every garage and three eyes on every fish – 1990
CAME OUT IN: Córdoba, Argentina – 2011
Blinky, the three-eyed fish from The Simpsons, first appeared in the show’s second season, when Bart caught him while fishing in the river near the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.
In 2011, a fisherman in Argentina caught a three-eyed wolffish, also in waters outside a power plant.
In both cases, the power plants were blamed for dumping toxic waste into the waters, affecting wildlife.
Perfect catch? Bart caught a fish – and a glimpse of the future
7: KING’S LANDING IS DESTROYED BY DRAGONS
PREDICTED IN: The Serfsons – 2017
COMES WHERE IN: Game Of Thrones – 2019
The Simpsons parodied Game Of Thrones in 2017, with the episode ending with the family watching their village destroyed by fire-breathing dragons.
When the penultimate episode of Game Of Thrones aired in 2019, King’s Landing suffered the same fate when Daenerys Targaryen ordered Drogon to burn down the city.
Winter came early: The Simpsons predicted the fate of King’s Landing in 2017
8: BABY TRANSLATOR
FORECAST IN: Brother, can you spare two dimes? – 1992
CAME OUT IN: Twain, East Asia – 2015
When Homer is paid $2,000 in compensation for exposure to nuclear radiation, rendering him infertile, his long-lost half-brother Herb shows up, seeking an investment in an invention that translates “baby chatter” – with Maggie as the guinea pig.
In 2016, app developers unveiled their Infant Cries Translator, which claimed to be able to decipher what a baby’s sobbing was trying to convey.
Baby Babble: Did Homer’s Long-Lost Brother Invent the Infant Cries Translator?
9: MICHELANGELO’S DAVID CENSORS
FORECASTED IN: Itchy & Scratchy & Marge – 1990
CAME OUT IN: Saint Petersburg, Russia – 2016
Marge became outraged by the violence in Bart and Lisa’s favorite cartoon, The Itchy & Scratchy Show, and wrote a letter of concern to the broadcaster. This escalated into a full-blown protest with the cat-and-mouse cartoon being toned down; instead of blowing each other up, they were seen sharing lemonade in harmony.
When Michelangelo’s famous David sculpture was due to stop touring in Springfield, Marge refused to join a local protest led by the likes of the devout Maud Flanders, who claimed the statue was free. She was then accused of being a hypocrite.
Exactly the same scenario surfaced in Russia 26 years later [minus the Itchy & Scratchy part]when St Petersburg residents protested against a replica of the nude statue to be erected in the city.
Censored! Marge’s Itchy & Scratchy diatribe presaged a real-life protest against visual arts
10: ALL YOU CAN EAT RIGHT PACKAGE
FORECASTED IN: New Kid On The Block – 1992
CAME OUT IN: Massachusetts, USA – 2017
Homer was kicked out of an All You Can Eat location for eating too much, causing the restaurant to empty. He then became obsessed with legally challenging the case.
In 2017, a true event occurred at the Golden Corral, when a man ate 50 pounds of food and was kicked out.
He then sued the eatery for $2 million.
Everything you can’t eat! Homer’s fish bingeing eventually showed up in real life
11: DIFFERENT LOCKDOWN IN THE UK
FORECASTED IN: The Simpsons Movie – 2007
CAME OUT IN: The UK – 2020
Homer dumps his pet pig’s feces into Springfield Lake, sparking an environmental crisis.
The EPA then placed a dome over the city, quarantining residents and not allowing them to leave.
In December 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson placed the UK in a tiered system, dividing the country into different segments, with some levels ordered not to travel out of the city.
Locked down: Fans compared the dome placed over Springfield by the government to the layered restrictions Boris Johnson placed on the UK in 2020
12: REPORTING FROM HOME AND BEFORE
FORECASTED IN: Wild Barts Can’t Be Broken – 1999
CAME OUT IN: Worldwide – 2020
When Homer, Barney, Lenny, and Carl drunkenly trash Springfield Elementary School, it is blamed on the Springfield kids, prompting Chief Wiggum to impose a curfew.
Kent Brockman is forced to present the news from home.
In a strikingly similar situation, Channel 4 newsreader Krishnan Guru-Murthy had to present from home in the UK while self-isolating.
The country also introduced a strict curfew soon after, with restaurants and bars reopening but requiring them to close at 10 p.m. each night.
Eagle-eyed: One Simpsons viewer noted that a 1999 episode drew parallels to the work-from-home policies and curfews of the coronavirus pandemic