The Simpsons creators have inadvertently gained fame for foreseeing some of the world’s most remarkable events years beforehand. Among all these predictions, fans have singled out one as the most ‘impactful’ one.
Over 35 seasons, the show has accurately predicted significant events like Donald Trump’s presidency, aspects of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the Titanic submersible disaster last year, and even drama involving a radioactive fish.
Despite showrunner Al Jean’s statement that they don’t possess a crystal ball in the studio, fans couldn’t help discussing which prophecies stood out the most.
In a post on the Simpsons Reddit page, user PAUMiklo inquired, ‘What has been the most iconic “Simpsons predicted it” moment for you?’ Another user, Reeseaholic, drew parallels between an episode from season 12, The Computer Wore Menace Shoes – where Homer started posting scandalous gossip on his Mr X website – and Elon Musk’s Twitter rebrand to X last year.
One fan, Canadianbacon-eh-tor, acknowledged, ‘Ugh forgot about that episode. That has to be the most impactful prophecy of them all. Maybe a giant bubble can stop it.’
While we anticipate the arrival of the giant bubble from the Simpsons movie, another ‘eerie’ prediction stuck in a viewer’s mind.
A fan shared a screenshot from season nine’s premiere, The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson, portraying a magazine cover image of New York next to the Twin Towers with a price tag of $9, resembling the 9/11 terrorist attacks on September 11.
Commenting on the image, they expressed, ‘This one was pretty eerie.’
Another user, Nox_n2o_93, added, ‘The homeless/crazy man talking to Lisa on the bus mentions the Pentagon a few minutes after this too. All a coincidence, but still crazy.’
As GroovyDeathSkull furthered, ‘It is crazy that that’s real.’
Al reflected on the 9/11 moment in a conversation, admitting that looking back, it was ‘too eerie for words.’
In his words, ‘There was one, I didn’t work on this, but it was just too eerie for words. In the 90s, we did an episode about the World Trade Centre. There was a handbook held up that said, “New York on $9 a day”. Then it had the two Towers, so it looked like a 9/11.’
He continued, ‘That was completely coincidental, that was bizarre. I don’t know, I can’t explain that.’
Adding to his insights, Al mentioned, ‘Most of the other things like Trump being President or Brazil winning the World Cup are educated guesses. Trump was considering being President back in the 90s. We wanted Germany to win because we went to Brazil to lose and Germany was the next best bet for the World Cup. So, a lot of the things that we predicted are just, unfortunately, things you could see coming.’