In the 2012 episode 'Elementary School Musical,' Millhouse picks professor Bengt R. Holmström as the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics. In 2016, the Finnish economist actually won the prestigious award.
In the 2006 episode, 'Homer’s Paternity Coot,' 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 a coral and his oxygen levels dips. He loses consciousness and wakes up later in a hospital. In June 2023, many fans noted similarities with the real-life disappearance of an OceanGate submersible that was carrying five passengers to see the ruins of the Titanic. Sadly, all the passengers were killed on the real voyage.
At the beginning of the 2004 episode, 'The Ziff Who Came To Dinner,' we see a movie poster that reads "A Matrix Christmas, Coming Soon." 'The Matrix Resurrections' was released on December 22, 2021, in the US.
In the 1998 episode 'Wizards of Evergreen Terrace,' Homer becomes an inventor and writes an equation on a blackboard. Physicist Simon Singh later said Homer's equation predicted the Higgs-Boson particle, which was observed for the first time 14 years later.
In the 1993 episode '$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)' the characters Gunter and Ernst (parodies of Siegfried and Roy) were brutally attacked by one of their white tigers. Ten years later, one of the duo's tigers attacked Roy on stage during a performance.
In the 2012 episode 'Lisa Goes Gaga,' Lady Gaga was seen performing at the Super Bowl Halftime Show, where she arrived suspended on wires. This actually happened in 2017.
In the 1995 episode 'Lemon of Troy,' the residents of Shelbyville stole a lemon tree from the city of Springfield. In 2013, the same thing happened in Houston, Texas.
In 1991, in the episode 'Brush with Greatness,' Ringo Starr promised he would respond to all his fans even if it took him 20 years. In England in 2013, two Beatles fans received letters from Paul McCartney 50 years after sending him their mixtape!
In the 1990 episode 'Itchy & Scratchy & Marge,' Marge attempted to get the hyper-violent cartoon of 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. Back in 2016, a copy of the statue on display in St. Petersburg sparked controversy, and prompted a vote from citizens who wanted it to be covered up or removed. And in 2023, a school in Florida deemed the statue as too explicit to show to kids.
Several episodes have shown a three-eyed fish living in the polluted Springfield river. Years later, a three-eyed fish was found in Argentina.
In one of the biggest upsets at the 2018 Winter Olympics, the US curling team won gold over the favorite, Sweden. This historical win was predicted in a 2010 episode of 'The Simpsons,' called 'Boy Meets Curl.'
In 'The Simpsons Movie,' the family manages to escape quarantine, but Marge lets the others know they may be under surveillance, and a building with a National Security Agency logo can be seen. Years later, it was revealed the NSA was actually spying on American citizens.
In 1995, episode 19 of season six showed Lisa traveling to the future, where her husband was using a watch that could also make phone calls. In recent years, smartwatches have become widely available!
In the 'Lisa's Wedding' episode from 1995, during Lisa's trip to London, a skyscraper can be seen, similar to The Shard. Plus, it's even in the right location. Construction on the building started in 2009, 14 years later.
In the episode 'You Don’t Have to Live Like a Referee' from 2014, Homer is chosen to organize the World Cup after a scandal developed in the championship's organization. Three months after the episode aired, the corruption scandal in FIFA came to light.
In the 1992 episode 'Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?', Homer's brother creates a machine capable of translating a baby's cry. In 2009, an app that could do the same was developed.
In the penultimate episode of 'Game of Thrones,' Daenerys Targaryen shocked fans when she and her dragon destroyed an already surrendered King's Landing. That came out in 2019, but in 2017, 'The Simpsons' spoofed various aspects of 'Game of Thrones,' and Homer revived a dragon that proceeded to incinerate a village.
In episode four of season 20, Homer's voting machine kept changing his Obama vote to John McCain. Four years later in Pennsylvania, some faulty machines had to be removed because they changed votes for Obama to Mitt Romney.
In the 1998 episode 'Lard of the Dance,' Bart and Homer try to steal used cooking grease from the school cafeteria. In 2011, US$10,000 worth of used cooking oil was stolen from a restaurant in Missouri.
In the 2000 episode 'Bart to the Future,' Lisa is the first woman to become President of the United States, and she must clean up the mess her predecessor Donald Trump made. Sixteen years later, Trump was elected POTUS.
In the 1999 episode 'E-I-E-I (Annoyed Grunt),' Homer buys a farm and grows mutant tomatoes by mixing tobacco with them. In 2013, similarly strange-looking mutant tomatoes started growing around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, which famously suffered a major radiation leak in 2011.
In the 2005 episode 'Midnight Rx,' Ned travels to Canada with Homer, Grampa, and Apu where he discovers that pot is legal in the country. In 2018, Canada legalized recreational use of marijuana.
In the episode 'Lisa's Wedding' from 1995, Lisa talks to her mother through video call, long before FaceTime and Skype had been developed.
In the 1998 episode 'When You Dish Upon a Star,' Ron Howard and Brian Grazer write a script based on an idea Homer pitches. The script is being produced at 20th Century Fox, and a sign in front of the studio's headquarters reveals that it's "a division of Walt Disney Co." On December 14, 2017, Disney purchased 21st Century Fox for an estimated US$52.4 billion.
In the 1998 episode 'Bart Carny,' the children were playing a video game called 'Yard Work Simulator,' where they had to fulfill various gardening tasks. Eventually, that became real when the game 'Farmville' was launched in 2009.
In the 1995 episode 'Lisa's Wedding,' the librarian at Lisa's college was a robot. In 2011, robots that retrieve books were introduced at the Joe and Rika Mansueto Library (pictured) at the University of Chicago.
In an episode from season five, 'Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song,' the school's canteen served horse meat. In 2013, traces of horse DNA were discovered in Taco Bell and Bird's Eye products.
In the 1997 episode 'Lisa's Sax,' Marge was reading a book called 'Curious George and the Ebola Virus.' In 2014, there was an outbreak of Ebola in western Africa.
The popular game 'Guitar Hero' was only launched in 2005, but in a 2002 episode titled 'How I Spent My Strummer Vacation,' Mick Jagger and Keith Richards gave Homer a jacket that said Guitar Hero on the back.
Sources: (Hollywood Reporter) (Business Insider) (Collider)
See also: These musicians predicted the future
Ever since its premiere in 1989, the iconic animated series has featured many scenarios that later manifested in real life. From Super Bowl winners to Trump's presidency, 'The Simpsons' has always managed to surprise fans with their prophetic theories and sketches. So, what did the show predict? Could it be that they really predicted world events, or is the world just following 'The Simpsons' script?
Check out this gallery for the times 'The Simpsons' predicted the future!
All the times 'The Simpsons' predicted the future
You'll be impressed with the show's uncanny accuracy!
TV Curiosities
Ever since its premiere in 1989, the iconic animated series has featured many scenarios that later manifested in real life. From Super Bowl winners to Trump's presidency, 'The Simpsons' has always managed to surprise fans with their prophetic theories and sketches. So, what did the show predict? Could it be that they really predicted world events, or is the world just following 'The Simpsons' script?
Check out this gallery for the times 'The Simpsons' predicted the future!