While fans of the show strive to find meaning in everything spoken on it—hence the hoax reports about “Queen Elizabeth II’s death prediction”—the show has actually made several frightening prophecies that came true. If you’re a fan of the show, you know that “The Simpsons have done it again!” is a famous catchphrase.
As creator Matt Selman revealed last month, the longest-running American sitcom (1989-present) may have a secret weapon to predict the future. Find out if the satirical series was right or wrong about the latest predictions in this comprehensive guide.
Lie Regarding the Death of Queen Elizabeth II
A bogus assertion! Multiple images and films commemorating Queen Elizabeth II’s death on September 8, 2022, have been shared across social media with remarks like “The Simpsons have done it again!” More than 16 million people have seen one such video.
The ball got rolling when a cartoon depicting Britain’s longest-reigning monarch went viral. There was a picture of a casket with the queen inside and the words “Elizabeth II: 1926-2022” written underneath it. A sticker from “The Simpsons” with the D-Day date (September 8, 2022) appeared in the backdrop of the image, sparking rumours.
All such pictures and memes were completely fabricated. There was never any hint on “The Simpsons” that the queen would die. Multiple credible sources have stated that the queen only made six appearances as a character in the American show, and that not once was her death foretold.
False Prediction of Global Collapse
The viewers of “The Simpsons” take the show’s forecasts quite seriously. Recent months have seen an uptick in outlandish predictions that the end of the world will occur on September 24, 2022. The end of the world was prophesied to occur on May 21, 2012, but fans of “The Simpsons” began drawing connections to the episode “Homer Goes to Prep School” from 2012, claiming that the show had already seen the end of the world.
What prompted this, and how does it relate to “The Simpsons”? Viewers of the September 30, 2022 episode “Homer Goes to Prep School” may recall that their favourite character, Homer, joins a survivalist club and warns Marge, “The apocalypse is coming.” Perhaps not today, perhaps not ever, but eventually.
While the video of German politician Friedrich Merz sparked these bogus claims of an Apocalypse, some people who think they are smarter than everyone else began constructing their own ideas based on the aforementioned episode of the American sitcom. This being the 24th episode of season 9, fans began proclaiming, “The Simpsons have done it again.”
This German lawmaker flubbed the date when referring to it. Merz meant to imply that the Russian invasion of Ukraine would take place on February 27th, 2022. So, yeah, I can definitely state that the end of the world will not occur on September 24.
It’s True, Robots Will Rule the World
In subsequent seasons, the writers of The Simpsons have shocked viewers with their uncanny ability to foretell the future. Homer has fear for his family’s safety when a horde of robots invade Springfield in Season 6. One might hear someone say, “Got to listen to me, the elementary chaos theory tells us that all robots will eventually turn against their masters and run them up.”
As it happens, “Love Death+Robots” also features examples of this. Even if this hasn’t happened yet, the great technological advancements and the takeover by AI are evidence that it is possible and has already begun to happen. As a point of information, PwC believes that “by the mid-2030s, up to 30% of jobs could be automated.” It has also been predicted that during the next 15 to 20 years, machines will replace 40 percent of the world’s workforce.
Coin of the Shiba Inu, It Is So!
Season 31, episode 13 of “The Simpsons,” titled “Frinkcoin,” presented a shocking forecast about 2019. The creators of this episode joked about a cryptocurrency called Shiba Inu Coin. Lisa Simpson, the creator of Frinkcoin, was the subject of an interview on the Simpsons while the family was at “The Lentil Institution” for lunch.
As a result of the success of the Frinkcoin, Mr. Frink amasses a fortune, but his good fortune is short-lived. Later on, Smithers collects a team to construct “Burns Coin,” devising a mechanism to evaluate the Frinkcoin. During the episode, Shiba Inu Coin’s likeness is featured in a newspaper piece. In the future, Frink has completely exhausted his financial resources.
Although its value declined by 16.5% in May 2022 to $0.00001494, Shiba Inu Coin was still an important cryptocurrency. A previously recorded episode of “The Simpsons” appears to have accurately forecast the decline. Not only that, but over its episodes, the show has also referenced other cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP. Investopedia (2022) provides a primer on this digital money for those unfamiliar with it:
The Shiba Inu hunting dog serves as the mascot for the cryptocurrency Shiba Inu, which is built on the Ethereum platform. Supporters, who call themselves the SHIBArmy, claim it is “the Dogecoin killer” and a viable alternative to Dogecoin.
In August of the year 2020, a creator going by the name of Ryoshi introduced the world to the Shiba Inu. On October 29, 2021, Shiba Inu’s price increased by a factor of 10, giving it a market valuation of $41 billion. With a market worth of $16 billion as of today (February 14, 2022) despite a precipitous decline, Shiba Inu remains in the top ten of all meme cryptocurrencies.
Tom Hanks Really Likes the United States!
Tom Hanks makes a cameo appearance in an advertisement seen by the Simpson family in the 2007 film The Simpsons. The commercial features a father and his two children at the Grand Canyon, and the film, directed by David Silverman, depicts this scene.
His daughter, however, is disappointed by the landmark and insists that dad build a brand new Grand Canyon. The American legend and Grammy winner finally makes an appearance. The star of “Splash” claims that the US government has borrowed some of his credibility because it has “lost its own.”
After Joe Biden’s one-year presidency, his seemingly sardonic quip became a reality in 2022. Hanks did make an appearance in an ad, in which he discussed the country’s resolve to recover economically after the Covid-19 outbreak. According to the video’s description, it focuses on “America’s theme of rebuilding its economy and highlighting the successes of Biden’s administration so far.”
There Will Be No Russian Invasion Of Ukraine!
Social media users, despite acknowledging the inevitability of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, insist “The Simpsons” should get credit for foreseeing it in the late ’90s. Premiering in 1998, “The Simpson Tide” (Season 9, Episode 19) depicts a United Nations gathering at which officials from different countries discuss their own agendas.
The Russian delegation insists that they hoped the rest of the world would forget about the Soviet Union. Eventually, a scene plays out in which a queue of soldiers is formed beneath a Soviet Union flag.
Well, when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, everyone immediately accepted the prediction as fact. But Matt claimed that the ongoing tensions between the two countries were the sole basis for this forecast.
Several photos purporting to show the prediction went viral, although they were all altered in some way. This false assertion was previously debunked by Reuters. You may recall that in a few of the episodes, Abraham Simpson (Father of Homer) was a soldier who wore no Ukrainian emblems.
Many, though, asserted that he was indeed a Ukrainian serviceman. The Season 17 Episode 8 still of Homer waving a flag was used for this illustration. Just so you know, it wasn’t a Ukrainian flag unlike what many fans think. Putin also wore a “Red Sox” t-shirt, not a “USSR” one, when he made a cameo appearance in an episode. So, no, the invasion of Ukraine was not anticipated.
How Accurate Are ‘The Simpsons’ Predictions, Anyway?
After so many seasons, “The Simpsons” has established itself as a cultural staple and is often cited for prescient insights. The writers of this series have confounded fans by forecasting numerous real-world events decades in advance, including as the 9/11 attacks, Donald Trump’s election, the relaxation of a produce ban in the UK, and the discovery of a three-eyed fish.
Then, what’s their secret? This is a perplexing thought that keeps coming back to us. Showrunner Matt Selman said in an interview last month that Season 34 of “The Simpsons” will explain to viewers how they have been so successful at predicting the future.
The man spoke thusly: To explain how ‘The Simpsons’ can predict the future, we have another mind-bendingly cerebral episode. It’s a really abstract episode with a tonne of strange elements, but it explains how “The Simpsons” can see into the future. However, he did provide some clarification by quoting one of his authors.
