For decades, The Simpsons has stood as a cornerstone of television, captivating audiences with its sharp satire on American life. But the quirky town of Springfield has offered more than just laughs.
The series has eerily anticipated several major historical events with surprising accuracy. From political upsets to tech innovations, The Simpsons has consistently displayed an uncanny ability to glimpse the future.
This article explores some of the most astonishing examples where the show’s fictional moments have leapt off the screen and into reality.
#1 Donald Trump’s Return To Power in 2024
One of the most talked-about predictions from The Simpsons is the foresight of Donald Trump’s presidency. In an episode where Lisa Simpson becomes President of the United States, she casually remarks, “We inherited quite the budget crunch from President Trump.”
This seemed like a humorous jab at Trump’s early political ambitions at the time. However, the line took on new significance when he was elected president in 2016.
The show’s prophetic streak continued when Trump announced his bid for a third presidential run in 2022, aiming for the 2024 election.
Producer Al Jean confirmed the show’s eerie accuracy on X, validating the prediction (per The Daily Mail).
#2 The Rise of Smartwatches
The Simpsons episode “Lisa’s Wedding,” which aired in 1995, offered a futuristic glimpse of life in 2010. Among the many tech predictions in the episode, one stood out to eagle-eyed fans: Lisa’s fiancé, Hugh, talking into a wristwatch with voice recognition features.
Fast forward to 2025, and it’s clear the show was ahead of its time. While smartwatches weren’t central to the episode’s plot, the portrayal of wearable tech closely mirrors devices like the Apple Watch, which didn’t debut until 2015.
Though Hugh’s high-tech proposal didn’t go as planned, the episode’s prediction about smartwatches turned out to be remarkably accurate (per The Hollywood Reporter).
Image credits: SmartWatchID
#3 The Apple Vision Pro Parallels
The Simpsons has an impressive track record for predicting tech trends, and the episode “Friends and Family” is no exception.
In it, Mr. Burns hires the Simpson family as his virtual companions, setting up a future scenario where Springfield residents roam the streets wearing VR headsets.
In a humorous twist, characters crash into poles and tumble into holes while absorbed in their virtual realities.
This scene closely mirrors real-life incidents that surfaced in 2024 after the release of Apple’s Vision Pro, where users similarly struggled to navigate their surroundings (per USA Today).
Image credits: Star_Knight12
#4 The Robots Replacing Human Jobs
The Simpsons episode “Lisa’s Wedding” features a scene where a robot replaces a human librarian, offering an early vision of automation in everyday life.
That fictional scenario took on eerie relevance in 2016, when students at Aberystwyth University created a mobile robot assistant.
Adding to the coincidence, the robot was named Hugh, just like Lisa’s fiancé in the same episode (per Times Higher Education).
#5 Oceangate Submersible Tragedy
In the 2006 episode “Homer’s Paternity Coot,” Homer believes that Mason Fairbanks might be his long-lost father. They embark on an underwater journey in separate submersibles to search for a sunken ship called “Piso Mojado.”
The episode turns dark when Homer gets trapped in coral, loses consciousness, and is later found in a hospital after three days.
Fans drew eerie comparisons between this fictional plot and the OceanGate tragedy in June 2023, when a deep-sea vessel imploded during a Titanic expedition, killing all five aboard.
The resemblance between the animated submersibles and the real-life disaster added another layer of uncanny foresight to the show’s reputation (per Entertainment Tonight).
Image credits: iam3422
#6 Space Travel of a Mundane Person
The 1994 episode “Deep Space Homer” features NASA choosing an average citizen to join a space mission to boost TV ratings. Nearly two decades later, the UK held a contest in 2013 to send a civilian into space, won by 25-year-old Oliver Knight, who triumphed over more than 250 participants (per Metro).
This real-world parallel mirrored the episode’s unlikely space traveler theme. Adding to its cultural impact, the episode featured Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin and musician James Taylor as guest stars.
What once seemed far-fetched has become plausible, with numerous civilian spaceflights now including celebrities like William Shatner and Katy Perry (per Space).
Image credits: VirginAtlantic
#7 Pandemic Warnings Before Covid-19
The 1993 episode “Marge in Chains” eerily foreshadowed aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. While Marge is imprisoned for shoplifting, the Osaka Flu virus spreads through Springfield after contaminated products arrive from overseas.
Like the coronavirus, the Osaka Flu originated abroad and arrived in the US via global trade. There was no immediate cure, and residents were advised to rest, mirroring early COVID-19 responses before vaccines became available.
Though the two outbreaks aren’t identical, the similarities were striking, leading many fans to draw comparisons (per ABC News).
#8 Disney Buys 20th Century Fox
One of the more widespread predictions of The Simpsons was made in the 1998 episode “When You Dish Upon a Star.” This episode featured Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger voicing themselves.
Homer decides to work for them, during which he pitches a movie idea to the executives at 20th Century Fox. However, the next scene shows that the company now owns Walt Disney.
This is amusing since Walt Disney announced a $71 billion merger with 21st Century Fox in March 2019. In 2021, the two companies settled the streaming rights and decided what films would play on Hulu, Disney+, or HBO Max (per Variety).
Image credits: rwmead
#9 Greta Thunberg’s United Nations Climate Speech
Before Greta Thunberg rose to prominence, The Simpsons Movie (2007) featured Lisa Simpson writing a report on Springfield’s future in 2059. She discovers disturbing reports, like people drinking soap instead of water and wars being fought over drops of oil.
Lisa then delivered a passionate environmental speech, blaming the government for incompetence in the crisis.
Fans later noted striking similarities between her fictional warning and Thunberg’s real-life United Nations speech (per Exclaim).
Image credits: Gettyi / Stephanie Keith
#10 Twitter Becomes X
In a brief scene from Season 23 of The Simpsons, Homer glances at his phone, where one of the app icons resembles an X. The moment occurs as Marge prepares a party for Ned Flanders and Edna Krabappel’s surprise marriage.
Though the scene initially seemed insignificant, fans later noted its resemblance to Twitter’s 2022 rebranding. After Elon Musk acquired the platform for $44 billion, he renamed it X and replaced the iconic bird logo (per New York Post).
#11 J.C. Penney Files for Bankruptcy
In a 2007 episode of The Simpsons, the family visits a mall with a shuttered J.C. Penney store, an offhand joke that gained new meaning in 2020.
Thirteen years later, during the COVID-19 pandemic, J.C. Penney officially filed for bankruptcy and announced plans to close numerous locations across the US (per The New York Times).
Image credits: funnyhoodvidzig
#12 The NSA Spying on Citizens
In The Simpsons Movie (2007), the family flees from the EPA by train. When Lisa worries they’ll be punished for speaking out, Marge assures her, “Oh Lisa, it’s not like the government is listening to everybody’s conversation,” just before a cut to the NSA doing precisely that.
This gag took on a chilling real-world parallel in 2013, when Edward Snowden revealed that the US government had been secretly monitoring citizens’ communications through the NSA. The revelation sparked national outrage over privacy violations.
#13 Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl Performance
In the episode “Lisa Goes Gaga,” Lady Gaga performs in Springfield wearing a silver, sparkly outfit and knee-high boots, an ensemble strikingly similar to her real-life Super Bowl halftime show in 2017.
Though the episode is often ranked among the series’ weaker entries, the visual parallels between the animated performance and Gaga’s 13-minute live show caught fans’ attention (per CBS News).
#14 Kamala Harris’ Purple Pantsuit
In the same episode that predicted Donald Trump’s presidency, Lisa Simpson appears in a purple pantsuit and white pearl necklace, the same outfit Kamala Harris wore to her 2021 inauguration.
The episode, set in 2030, shows Lisa as “America’s first straight female president.”
Screenwriter Al Jean later acknowledged the coincidence on X, posting side-by-side images of Lisa and Harris in matching attire and expressing pride in the show’s accuracy (per CBS News).
Image credits: AlJean
FAQ
How many predictions has The Simpsons gotten right?
It’s hard to give an exact number, but The Simpsons has earned a strong reputation for forecasting future events. Fans and analysts have identified multiple cases where the show appeared to predict everything from political shifts to tech innovations, reinforcing its legacy for uncanny foresight.
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