The Simpsons has earned a reputation for predicting the future. Over the show’s nearly 35-year run, the animated series has presented much of what seemed like farfetched scenarios at the time.
As we know, life these days is stranger than fiction. Plenty of The Simpsons‘ zany storylines have, in some way or another, come to life.
Here are some of the many Simpsons predictions that came true.
Trump’s Presidential Tenure
A season 11 episode of The Simpsons called “Bart to the Future” references Donald Trump as president. While there may have been some jokes about Trump getting into politics throughout the ’90s, no one could have predicted it would have actually happened, not to mention how far it would go.
Granted, they predicted it would be in 2030 so it wasn’t totally on the nose, but interesting nonetheless. It’s widely regarded as one of the biggest Simpsons predictions to date.
Walt Disney Merging With FOX
During season 10’s “When You Dish Upon a Star,” a quick shot shows the 20th Century Fox logo outside a movie lot. Underneath the logo, it reads, “A Division of Walt Disney Co.” Of course, that wasn’t the case when the episode came out in 1998, that became the case in July 2018.
A Christmastime Matrix Movie
A 2003 episode of The Simpsons shows Homer at the movies. Behind him, there’s a poster for a new Matrix movie, to be released on Christmas.
The underwater Submarine Emergency
In a season 17 episode called “Homer’s Paternity Coot,” Homer meets a man who claims to be his biological father. The two embark on an adventure in an underwater submersible to visit a shipwreck when they get stuck in a coral reef. Though they are rescued in time, Homer wakes up in a hospital.
The 2005 episode came to mind for Simpsons fanatics upon news of the 2023 OceanGate submersible set to visit the wreckage of the Titanic, which tragically did not get to complete the trip.
Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl Performance
Another one of The Simpsons‘ predictions came in 2011 when Lady Gaga performed in an episode titled “Lisa Goes Gaga.” In the episode, the pop star performs, descending into her arena on cable wires and with a sparkly outfit and pyrotechnics.
Lady Gaga’s halftime show performance at the 2017 Super Bowl had avid viewers drawing parallels between the two.
FIFA’s Bribery Scandal
When Homer ends up as a World Cup referee, Springfield gangsters see him as a soft target to making some big bucks on the sporting event.
The 2014 episode seemed like eerie foreshadowing to a 2015 bribery and corruption scandal involving FIFA referees accepting bribes for games on the international stage.
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