Across 35 seasons and 768 episodes, Fox’s The Simpsons, while serving as the foundation of modern comedy, has had many moments that have manifested themselves in real life. In a world where truth can often be stranger than fiction, things that writers pitched as jokes were able to, much like the late Poochie, elevate out of frame and make their way to a new dimension.
The Hollywood Reporter has culled together 34 episodes, plotlines and throwaway jokes that came to fruition in our three-dimensional world. So kick back in your Spinemelter 2000, grab your glass of Skittlebrau or Malk and enjoy!
The Donald Trump Presidency (Season 11, Episode 17: “Bart to the Future”)
Let’s start with the most widely circulated prediction. The second time The Simpsons took a peek into the future, Lisa has become president of the United States. In a cabinet meeting, she offhandedly mentions, “We inherited quite the budget crunch from President Trump.” It initially was a reference to Trump attempting a run as a Reform Party candidate. But the words gained much more validity when Trump was elected president in 2016. The week after the election, the recurring chalkboard gag even read, “Being right sucks.” The line gained more attention when Trump announced he was running for president yet again in a bid for 2024 — which, incidentally, is the year that The Simpsons had originally predicted, as producer Al Jean noted on Twitter.
Kamala Harris’ Purple Pantsuit (Season 11, Episode 17: “Bart to the Future”)
In the same episode that predicted the Trump presidency, Lisa is showing wearing an eerily similar outfit — purple pantsuit, white pearls — to the one Vice President Kamala Harris wore to the 2021 inaugural. “The pantsuit may have been a nod to Hillary Clinton at the time, or we were just going for a power look,” longtime Simpsons scribe Mike Scully recently told The Hollywood Reporter. The color purple? “That seemed to have been a random choice. It may have been done by the animators.” Her pearls, of course, are no mystery: “Lisa always wears them,” Scully added.
Correctly Predicting Super Bowls (Season 3, Episode 14: “Lisa the Greek”)
The initial airing of the football-centric episode came only a few days before Super Bowl XXVI, where Lisa correctly predicted the Washington Redskins would win. The next year, the staff decided to dub in the names of that year’s competing teams, and they were once again correct with their call of the Dallas Cowboys as victors. The redubbings continued with moderate success over the next few years, finishing with another accurate prediction of the San Francisco 49ers over the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX.
Disney Buys 20th Century Fox (Season 10, Episode 5: “When You Dish Upon a Star”)
An establishing shot at the end of the celebrity-heavy “When You Dish Upon a Star” shows the 20th Century Fox logo with “A Division of Walt Disney Co.” below it. Though it has always been quick to poke fun at its parent company, the show certainly did not expect Fox to sell to The Walt Disney Co. in July 2018, now bringing Homer Simpson and Mickey Mouse into the same house.
Underwater Submersible Emergency Situation (Season 17, Episode 10: “Homer’s Paternity Coot”)
In this episode, Homer believes a man named Mason Fairbanks to be his long-lost biological father. The two embark on an underwater adventure in individual submersibles to try and find the treasure in a sunken ship named “Piso Mojado.” But Homer gets stuck in coral and his oxygen levels keep dipping. He loses consciousness and wakes up three days later in a hospital. In June 2023, many fans noted the parallels with the real-life disappearance of an OceanGate submersible that was carrying five passengers who were on an adventure to see the ruins of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean when the ship imploded and everyone on board perished.
Smartwatches (Season 6, Episode 19: “Lisa’s Wedding”)
“Lisa’s Wedding” was the show’s first foray into the future, with several technology jokes in tow that ended up coming to fruition. For example, a botched wedding proposal from Lisa’s boyfriend Hugh prompts him to call an audible by talking into his watch. In 2013, smartwatches with voice recognition first came out, saving relationships around the world.
Autocorrect (Season 6, Episode 8: “Lisa on Ice”)
This is one of the few cases when The Simpsons not only made a prediction but actively contributed to events. A quick gag has bully Dolph writing the memo “Beat up Martin” on his Apple Newton. The text then translates to “Eat up, Martha,” a clear crack at the PDA’s poor handwriting recognition. Sources allege that years later, when Apple was working on the iPhone keyboard, employees knew that was the part they had to nail. They would even quote, “Eat up, Martha” to each other to signal the feature’s importance.
Stealing Cooking Grease for Cash (Season 10, Episode 1: “Lard of the Dance”)
One of Homer’s many get-rich-quick schemes involved siphoning grease from various establishments and selling it at a profit. It was a plan so prolific that “entrepreneurs” were using it in real life, as it was reported that thieves were stealing grease from restaurants around New York City to sell to producers of biodiesel.
FIFA’s Corruption Scandal and World Cup Results (Season 25, Episode 16: “You Don’t Have to Live Like a Referee”)
The Simpsons’ take on the World Cup involves Homer being brought into the world of refereeing, mainly due to the FIFA organization having a shortage from massive corruption. Though he gets the temptation, he decides to call the big game fairly, leading to Germany winning the World Cup. The show enjoyed a one-two punch (or kick) of precognition. First, Germany did end up winning the title that same year. But what followed in 2015 was not as joyous, as FIFA headquarters was raided by police amid accusations of bribery, fraud and money laundering.
The Beatles Sending Belated Fan Mail (Season 2, Episode 18: “Brush With Greatness”)
In the second season, Marge Simpson reveals in high school she sent celebrity crush Ringo Starr a painting. After decades pass, Ringo finally sends back a response, fulfilling a vow to return all fan mail. The prediction seemed to pass between the living Beatles, as, in 2013, two women from Essex received a reply from Sir Paul McCartney after sending him a mixtape 50 years earlier.
Siegfried and Roy Tiger Attack (Season 5, Episode 10: “$pringfield”)
Mr. Burns decides to build a casino in Springfield, with Vegas references abounding. One such was Gunter and Ernst, a clear Siegfried and Roy analog whose act ends in tragedy when their white tiger, Anastasia, attacks them. Though this one is a bit more understandable given the dangers of working with wild animals, Roy Horn was also attacked 10 years after the episode aired.
Video Chats (Season 6, Episode 19: “Lisa’s Wedding”)
Going back to “Lisa’s Wedding,” the episode offhandedly features one of the more vital components of the 2010s and especially 2020s amid the pandemic: video chat. The style of communication throughout the episode is visual via a screen, not by phone. In a world that runs on Zoom, Skype, Google Hangout and FaceTime, this is one prediction the writers had to see to believe.
The U.S. Wins Gold in Curling (Season 21, Episode 12: “Boy Meets Curl”)
In one of the show’s many international trips, Homer and Marge get drafted into the U.S. curling team for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Despite the odds against them, they are able to sweep Sweden and win the gold medal. It took eight years before this stone reached its target, as the recent 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang featured the same match-up and result.
An “Average Joe” Goes Into Space (Season 5, Episode 15: “Deep Space Homer”)
In a famous Simpsons storyline, NASA elects to send an average person into space to increase ratings for shuttle launches. In 2013, the United Kingdom held a contest to turn an ordinary person into an astronaut, which consisted of multiple interviews and rigorous testing in Cape Canaveral. The winner was 25-year-old Oliver Knight, who beat more than 250 candidates to take a trip into space with 23 other winners. It’s safe to say NASA learned from their source material and chose to not stock potato chips or ants on the shuttle. Since then, many more “regular” folks, and celebrities from William Shatner to Michael Strahan, also have taken flight.
Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl Performance (Season 23, Episode 22: “Lisa Goes Gaga”)
Regarded as one of the worst episodes of the show thus far, “Lisa Goes Gaga” featured the eponymous pop star visiting Springfield and aiding Lisa’s self-esteem issues. When Gaga performed at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2017, many noticed her wire-based, spark-laden stunt bore an uncanny resemblance to one of her many outfits during the episode.
Covering up Michelangelo’s “David” (Season 2, Episode 9: “Itchy & Scratchy & Marge”)
In an early episode, Marge attempted to get the hyper-violent cartoon pairing Itchy and Scratchy to be more docile. She then realized how censorship could cut both ways when the town tried to protest the nudity of Michelangelo’s David, which made a stop in Springfield on its coast-to-coast tour. But the state of David also became a hot-button issue in 2016, when Russians voted on whether or not to cover a copy of the famed statue with clothes. Luckily, it did not lead them to question the material from their own beloved cartoon duo, Worker and Parasite.
Faulty Voter Machines (Season 20, Episode 4: “Treehouse of Horror XIX”)
In the cold open of the 19th installment of “Treehouse of Horror,” (linked to the 2008 presidential election) Homer goes into a booth to attempt to vote for Barack Obama, only for the computerized machines to count it for John McCain. It took a full election cycle for this one to occur, as a 2012 viral video depicted a voting booth in Pennsylvania doing the same thing with Obama and Mitt Romney.
Mutant Tomatoes (Season 11, Episode 5: “E-I-E-I-D’oh!”)
Homer’s attempt at farming led him to produce “tomacco,” a tomato/tobacco hybrid, utilizing some nuclear materials from his day job at the plant (though that job is wont to change, depending on the episode). In 2013, satire mutated into reality, as fruits and vegetables near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant turned into hybridized horrors.
The Higgs-Boson Particle (Season 10, Episode 2: “The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace”)
Inspired by the work of Thomas Edison, Homer becomes an aspirational inventor in the show’s 10th season. One cutaway gag involves Homer scribbling profusely on a chalkboard, the bottom of which shows a math equation. More than a decade later, scientists discovered the Higgs-Boson particle (also known as the “God particle”), startled to find its mass was similar to Homer’s calculation.
The Albuquerque Isotopes (Season 12, Episode 15: “Hungry, Hungry Homer”)
This one is less so a prediction, but more the show inspiring a real-life event. “Hungry, Hungry Homer” involves Homer going on a hunger strike to protest his baseball team the Springfield Isotopes’ move to Albuquerque. Only about a year later, the Calgary Cannons minor league team relocated to New Mexico, and the Albuquerque Tribune ran a poll for the new team name. The fans came out in droves and, much to Homer’s chagrin, the Albuquerque Isotopes became a team.
Ebola Outbreak (Season 9, Episode 3: “Lisa’s Sax”)
In an episode primarily set in 1990, Marge attempted to cheer up a forlorn Bart with a reading of Curious George and the Ebola Virus. Though the disease had existed before the episode, Ebola had its largest outbreak on record in 2014 and 2015, affecting more than just a curious little monkey.
The Shard (Season 6, Episode 19: “Lisa’s Wedding”)
Here’s a “too eerie to be a coincidence” prediction. The episode featured an establishing shot of Big Ben with the joke thrown in of it now having a digital face. But if you look on the lefthand side, you’ll see a pointed spire that doesn’t seem to fit in with the real London skyline. Construction of the Shard completed in 2012, and the skyscraper not only has a similar shape to the mysterious building but also sits in the same place in comparison to Big Ben.
Bengt R. Holmstrom Wins Nobel Prize in Economics (Season 22, Episode 1: “Elementary School Musical”)
The Simpsons is known for creating so-called “freeze frame gags,” visual references that would go nearly unnoticed without a pause button at the ready. In the season 22 premiere, Lisa and her group of friends have logged a predictions sheet for the Nobel Prize announcements. Though Milhouse would lose out on his prediction that Bengt R. Holmstrom would win in economics, everything would be coming up him in 2016 when Holmstrom ended up earning the honor.
Selling Ferrets as Toy Poodles (Season 13, Episode 22: “Papa’s Got a Brand New Badge”)
One of many schemes from Fat Tony, the authority on organized crime in Springfield, involves gluing cotton balls to ferrets to pass them off as toy poodles. In yet another instance of criminals taking their plans from television, an Argentinean man received a shock when he bought what he thought was a toy poodle, only to find out it was a groomed ferret.
Three-Eyed Fish (Season 2, Episode 4: “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish”)
Blinky, the episode’s famous three-eyed fish, has been used by major news publications and linked to commentary on nuclear waste and mutation. But those messages turned prescient in 2011, when fishermen caught a three-eyed wolf fish in a reservoir that feeds near a nuclear plant in Argentina.
Putting Horse Meat in Food (Season 5, Episode 19: “Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baadasssss Song”)
A quick visual in the fifth season shows Lunchlady Doris adding horse parts to a typical Springfield Elementary lunch. Little did she know how much of a trailblazer she would be, as, in 2013, health officials discovered that several beef products contained horse meat.
Suing an All-You-Can-Eat Restaurant (Season 4, Episode 8: “New Kid on the Block”)
Homer’s hunger is cartoonishly insatiable, so much so that in one episode he gets kicked out of a seafood restaurant after pursuing an “all you can eat” deal, only to sue for false advertising. This legal theory was tested in courts in 2012 and 2017. Ironically enough, the latter even happened in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Baby Translator (Season 3, Episode 24: “Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?”)
The Simpsons was onto the app game back in the early 1990s. Homer’s seldom-seen half-brother Herb, voiced by Danny DeVito, ascended from poor to prosperous, creating an invention that translates gibberish from infants into full sentences. Years later, the “Cry Translator” app would come out, which also analyzes a baby’s cry to translate needs.
Bloody Billboard (Season 4, Episode 6: “Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie”)
In line with the gory nature of the show-within-a-show, a billboard advertising Itchy and Scratchy’s first movie featured Scratchy getting his head cut off and spurting a blood-like liquid into unsuspecting open cars. TVNZ used the same effect to promote Kill Bill Vol. 1 in 2008, spattering the pavement with remnants from Beatrix Kiddo’s latest kill.
Whacking Day (Season 4, Episode 14: “Whacking Day”)
The eponymous holiday, which involves killing as many snakes as possible, slithered its way into the real world. The Python Challenge is an annual event where people wade into the Florida Everglades to thin the population of invasive Burmese pythons, whose overpopulation endangers the diverse native ecosystem.
Doughnut-Shaped Universe (Season 10, Episode 22: “They Saved Lisa’s Brain”)
When celebrated cosmologist Stephen Hawking made his first appearance on The Simpsons, the writers couldn’t resist the opportunity to put the world’s smartest man and the world’s stupidest man in one room. Sharing discourse over beers at Moe’s Tavern, Hawking says, “Your theory of a doughnut-shaped universe is intriguing. I may have to steal it.” Though there has been a genuine theory that the universe is shaped like a donut, or “torus,” since the ’80s, it has resurged in popularity in the new millennium.
NSA Spying Scandal (The Simpsons Movie)
In 2007, The Simpsons leaped to the big screen, with its penchant for predictions intact. When Marge discussed her plan to out government secrets, we were taken to the headquarters of the National Security Agency. Inside, there is a room full of monitors, with a whole staff listening to phone calls in the hopes of catching America’s most wanted. It was almost as if the real NSA were listening in on the film, as in 2013 Edward Snowden revealed to the public numerous secret surveillance programs the agency was operating.
Cypress Hill Performs With the London Symphony Orchestra (Season 7, Episode 24: “Homerpalooza”)
Like the Albuquerque Isotopes, this is less of a prediction and more of a manifestation. Nevertheless, it happened in real life, so we’re including it here. In this episode, Cypress Hill performed a classical version of their hit “Insane in the Brain” with the London Symphony Orchestra. On July 10, 2024, this scene became a reality when Cypress Hill took the stage at London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall backed by the full LSO. The rappers performed several of their hits, including “Insane in the Brain.” “It’s been something that we’ve talked about for many years since The Simpsons episode first aired,” Cypress Hill rapper B-Real told the BBC. “So it’s very special for us.” He added, “We’ve played a lot of historical venues throughout our career and stuff like that, but nothing as prestigious as this.”
A COVID-Like Flu Spreads From Asia (Season 4, Episode 21: “Marge in Chains”)
The plot of this 1993 episode kicks off in Japan, where a sick factory worker coughs into boxes that are being used to ship juicers to Springfield. The town’s residents — including the Simpson family — become ill with what is referred to as the “Osaka Flu.” When COVID-19 began spreading and shutting down schools, businesses and other institutions in March 2020, “Coronavirus” replaced “Osaka Flu” in memes online, while trolls began using the episode for racist propaganda in response to the outbreak. Bill Oakley, co-writer of the episode, told THR that he didn’t “like it being used for nefarious purposes. The idea that anyone misappropriates it to make coronavirus seem like an Asian plot is terrible. In terms of trying to place blame on Asia — I think that is gross.” He added: “It was meant to be absurd that someone could cough into a box and the virus would survive for six to eight weeks in the box. It is cartoonish. We intentionally made it cartoonish because we wanted it to be silly and not scary.”
Updated 9:39 a.m. Nov. 16, 2022: Added news about Trump’s presidential bid.
Updated 10:38 a.m. June 22, 2023: Added news about the missing OceanGate submersible.
Updated 7:45 p.m. August 25, 2024: Added the purple pantsuit and Cypress Hill episodes.
Abid Rahman and Alex Weprin contributed to this report.
