The Simpsons is not only one of the best sitcoms in the history of television, but it’s also the longest-running. Since debuting in 1989, it has served as a satirical commentary on American life. What’s more, it has made a number of staggering predictions far in advance about the world that all came true!
Here is a ranked list of the top predictions The Simpsons made that eventually manifested.
8. USA Curling Team
Season 21, Episode 12 (2010)
“Boy Meets Curl” premiered in 2010, and features Homer and Marge arriving at a skating arena only to find out it was closed for people to practice curling. The Simpsons tried their own hands at the sport and eventually joined the Mixed Doubles U.S. Curling Team during the Winter Olympics. In this episode, the American team won the Gold Medal and beat Sweden.
As fate would have it, in 2018, the U.S. Olympics Curling Team won their first Gold Medal under the tutelage of John Shuster. They also defeated Sweden that year with a score of 10 to 7.
7. The Matrix ‘4’
Season 15, Episode 14 (2004)
Even though fans got the conclusion of the original Matrix trilogy with 2003’s The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions, a Simpsons episode that aired the following year predicted fans would actually get a fourth film.
In 2004, the episode entitled “The Ziff Who Came To Dinner,” the beginning features a movie poster behind Homer that reads “A Matrix Christmas, Coming Soon.” The image presents Neo (Keanu Reeves) wearing a Santa hat. Ironically enough, a fourth Matrix film, Resurrections, was released in late 2021 during the Christmas season.
6. The God Particle
Season 10, Episode 2 (1998)
Homer tries to become an inventor on the level of Thomas Edison in “The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace.” In a brief scene, viewers observe what seems like a bunch of jibberish on a chalkboard. However, nothing could be further from the truth, as it is revealed to be quite a complex math equation.
Simon Singh, a reputable British science writer, spoke to The Independent and discovered the final figure on Homer’s chalkboard is almost identical to the 2012 CERN discovery of the Higgs boson (God Particle). “If you work it out, you get the mass of a Higgs boson that’s only a bit larger than the nano-mass of [what] a Higgs boson actually is…it’s kind of amazing as Homer makes this prediction 14 years before it was discovered.”
5. Election Interference
Season 20, Episode 4 (2008)
During the time that Barack Obama was in the run to become President, a brief moment in the 2008 episode “Treehouse of Horror XIX” depicts Homer trying to vote for Obama in a booth. To his misfortune, the machine malfunctions and tallies instead for Republican nominee John McCain.
There was a similar incident in 2012, with a YouTube video going viral showing an incorrectly registered vote in Pennsylvania. When the person tried to pick Obama, it instead got tallied for Mitt Romney, which sparked massive conspiracy theories.
4. Censorship of The Statue of David
Season 2, Episode 9 (1990)
As far back as 1990, the episode “Itchy & Scratchy Marge” saw residents of Springfield demanding the censorship of David, the famous sculpture by Italian artist Michelangelo.
This classic work is humorously covered with a pair of jeans in an attempt to become more acceptable for communities that don’t tolerate nudity.
3. Merger of Disney and 20th Century Fox
Season 10, Episode 5 (1998)
The 1998 episode entitled “When You Wish Upon a Star” has Homer meeting Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, voiced by their real-life selves, and deciding to work for them. Right after Homer pitches a movie idea in a call with the executives of 20th Century Fox, the next scene shows that the company was now owned by Disney.
Coincidentally, in March 2019, Disney announced a $71 billion merger with Fox. In 2021, both companies settled on streaming rights with respect to the films that Disney would own. This now determines which movies will be on Hulu/Disney+ or HBO Max.
2. Pandemic
Season 4, Episode 21 (1993)
The episode “Marge in Chains”, airing back in 1993, shows Mrs. Simpson having to serve time in jail for shoplifting. Soon after, the population of Springfield caught the Osaka Flu after a certain shipment of products reached American shores.
This contagion behaved almost identically to the COVID-19 pandemic, as it originated from a foreign country before arriving in the United States. Furthermore, there was no immediate treatment available and the doctor of the episode could only recommend bedrest, which mirrors the way scientists were still testing out vaccines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
1. Donald Trump Becoming President
Season 11, Episode 17 (2000)
As if it were already to the disbelief of liberal voters that he would become the GOP frontrunner, The Simpsons got the election results right way back in 2000. During the “Bart to the Future” episode in which Lisa Simpson served as the leader of the country, she mentioned that the United States was busy fixing the economy after former Donald Trump’s tenure in the Oval Office.
Not only did Trump become the 45th President in 2016, but a certain scene from the episode appeared as if it was replicated in real life. A crowd watches as Donald descends an escalator, just like he did with First Lady Melania Trump after a group of supporters were watching in the background.