'The Simpsons' predictions: the new Nostradamus?

Not by Baba Vanga or Nostradamus, the most reliable predictions are made by some yellow characters created by Matt Groening years ago: The Simpsons. Television's most popular family is known for its ability to guess what will happen in the future. And they have done so on uncountless occasions.

On April 19, World Simpsons Day, we review the best-known predictions of these animated characters. We also preview what could happen in 2023, based on the latest news and events already experienced by TV's most popular family.

Donald Trump becomes president

It is perhaps the best known prediction from The Simpsons. Everyone remembers the seventeenth episode of the eleventh season, as it was the first time the yellow family announced that Donald Trump would be the president of the United States. It was in 2000 and the tycoon would not become president of the United States until 2016. Sixteen years passed between an image and the scene in question, but the public will always remember that moment.

It was the second time the family had a glimpse into the future and discovered that Lisa had become the President of the United States. In a meeting with her cabinet, Lisa would casually mention the following sentence: "As you know, we inherited a budget deficit from President Trump." At first, explains The Hollywood Reporter, that reference alluded to Trump trying to run for the Reform Party. However, the tycoon ended up leading the Republican Party and becoming president of the nation. That's why, the week after the election, the recurring slate gag appeared with the following message: "Being right sucks."

Trump's prediction was again gaining relevance a few months ago, when the tycoon announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. That year, Al Jean assured on his Twitter feed, was the one in which what The Simpsons had predicted precisely one year before Trump became president, that Trump would run for president in 2024, originally happened:

The 9/11 attacks

It's another of the most talked about Simpsons predictions and the one that no one would want to have come true. The famous yellow family from our TV, were able to predict the 9/11 attacks and, more surprisingly, that whatever was going to happen would happen in the Twin Towers. And they did so on two occasions.

The first, recalls the specialized portal Spoiler, was in 1993. During the twelfth episode of the fourth season, titled "Marge vs. the Monorail," there is a scene in which we get a brief glimpse of a painting inside the train car. This painting shows the Twin Towers covered in smoke.

The second time was four years after that first prediction. And this one was more decisive and much more subtle. In the first episode of the ninth season, the Simpson family travels to New York in search of Homer's car. However, the patriarch of the family refuses to make the trip and at that moment Lisa, and later, Bart appear, showing the cover of a newspaper magazine whose headline reads: "New York: $9 a day." The curious thing is that, precisely behind and to the left of the "9" appear the Twin Towers and together with that number they form a "9-11."

FIFA's corruption for the World Cup

Sports, and especially soccer, are another of The Simpsons' specialties when it comes to making predictions. It is well known to all that, in 2014, Germany beat Argentina in the final. The match was predicted by the cartoon series on March 30, 2014 and, came true on July 13 of that same year as Germany beat Argentina 1-0 in Rio de Janeiro.

In that same chapter, they were right about another fact of special relevance. In the episode, "You Don't Have to Live Like a Referee," the sixteenth episode of the twenty-fifth season, Homer decides to change jobs and become a referee.

The truth is that, in contrast to his employment at the nuclear power plant, his work on the soccer field is quite good. And thanks to this, he manages to become a referee in the World Cup after it is discovered that the rest of the referees were bribed by the FIFA president. And his actions led to his arrest after he uttered the following sentence: "I am also going to be arrested for corruption."

In real life they were not referees, but a scandal in which bribery played a major role was uncovered. It happened a year after the chapter aired, in 2015. At the time, recalls the BBC, forty people were indicted and charged with bribery, extortion and conspiracy. In addition, it was discovered that the event hosts had, on many occasions, won the bids after making bribes to FIFA. Thus, for example, it was later revealed that Qatar spent millions of dollars to secure its place as host of the 2022 World Cup.

Super Bowl winners

The Super Bowl is another sporting event where the Simpson family's fortune-telling skills came into play. And on several occasions. Perhaps the best known is the one starring Lady Gaga. The fiction previsioned, in episode 22 of the twenty-third season titled "Lisa and Lady Gaga," that the singer would begin her halftime show of the event hanging down from a cable.

It was 2012 and five years later, in 2017, that prediction came true. Although, in this case, it is doubtful that the singer did not use this chapter as inspiration for her performance:

Lisa also starred in the second prediction The Simpsons got right about the Super Bowl. It was in the fourteenth chapter of the third season. Entitled "The Forecasts of Lisa," the family's middle child, remember The Hollywood Reporter, found out that the Washington Redskins would win the championship title. The episode aired on January 23, 1992, and three days later, on January 26, 1992, the prediction came true.

That episode was the only one that was premeditatedly modified. On January 28, 1993, the team in charge of producing the animated series changed its winner and, on that occasion, predicted that the Dallas Cowboys would be the champions. And they were right again.

Fox's purchase of Disney

The acquisition of Fox by the Walt Disney Corporation was one of the most noteworthy events of 2019. The purchase began in 2017, however, The Simpsons had already predicted nine years earlier that Rupert Murdoch's company would eventually become part of the entertainment giant:

The reference was subtle, just a brief scene in which they assured that 20th Century Fox was a division of Walt Disney Corporation, but it was enough for the TV´s yellow family to get another one of their predictions right.

Technological advances: the rise of FaceTime and the emergence of smartwatches

Technology is not indifferent to Simpsons predictions either. And it must be said that here they accumulate several hits in the same episode. We refer to episode 19 of the sixth season, entitled "Lisa's Wedding." The episode marked the family's first trip to the future to experience, firsthand, the wedding of The Simpsons' middle child. It all starts when Lisa visits a fortune teller at the Springfield Renaissance Faire. She transports her fifteen years into the future, to 2010, to show her who will be the love of her life and, more importantly, what their wedding will be like.

The trip allows you to learn about some of the technological advances of the future. Among them is the "cell phone with a picture," by which Lisa calls Marge and talks to her through a screen plugged into the device. A progress that became a reality when Apple launched its iPhone that included FaceTime. Do you remember the date? Indeed, in 2010, the same year Lisa travels to in this episode.

Apple and its smartwatch also appeared, ahead of time, on The Simpsons. And they did it in that same episode. A brief snapshot showed Lisa's boyfriend wearing a watch on his wrist by which he was able to talk to other people. In 2012, two years after FaceTime, smartwatches started to become a reality.

Musk's purchase of Twitter

We finish the predictions already made by The Simpsons with a more recent one. On October 2022, Elon Musk bought Twitter. What few knew, until the mogul himself revealed it, was that the most popular family on the small screen had already predicted it.

Many might consider that this image does not foretell anything, however, if you see the whole scene the prediction turns out to be quite true. It happened in the twelfth episode of the twenty-sixth season aired in 2015. Titled "The Inventor Who Fell to Earth," the episode stars Musk. And, after seeing the scene in which Lisa is feeding some birds in her little house with the slogan "Home, tweet, home," the next image shows the tycoon coming down from a spaceship in the middle of the family's garden.

It is clear that the predictions of The Simpsons are very accurate. Therefore, there are also frequent articles in which, based on what has already been broadcasted in the animated fiction, people dare to predict what could happen in 2023. These are the three predictions that media outlets such as La Nación and The Jerusalem Post highlight as possibilites that could come true this year:

Conflict between the United States and China? World War III?

One of the most catastrophic predictions, and the one we all hope will not come true, is that the conflict between the United States and China could escalate during 2023. Worse, it could be the germ that triggers World War III.

In one chapter, The Jerusalem Post recalls, it can be observed how a Channel 6 News Anchor in Springfield, Kent Brockman, reports the following: "It is with great sadness that I inform you that the United States and China have declared war on each other. A massive nuclear attack is expected to reach our shores within the hour."

However, events such as the possible possible banning of TikTok or the ongoing conflicts between China and the United States mean that this event, sadly, could become a reality. If we combine it with the war between Russia and Ukraine, or the ongoing conflict between the two Koreas, a Third World War, even if no one wants it, could happen sooner than expected.

Will the economic crisis continue?

It is undeniable that the economic crisis is a reality. And there is no telling when citizens will be able to return to normalcy and be able to stop fearing for their financial situation, or the economic future of the country. If we heed the predictions of The Simpsons, its end is not near.

La Nación points out that TV´s yellow family predicted in 2013, that America would experience a major economic crisis. It all happened in the ninth episode of the twenty-fourth season. In that episode, a man of mysterious origin shows Homer a video of "dubious provenance" that would indicate that a very strong country would fall.

The man later refers to America by stating the following: "Anarchy, the end of civilization will soon come to an America near you." To this, the patriarch of The Simpsons answers, "America cannot collapse, we are as powerful as ancient Rome." However, the mysterious man has a ready answer in the form of a video featuring playing cards with the following phrases: "No local agriculture," "peak oil," "Ben Bernanke," "solar flares" and "plague of cicadas for 17 years." And some of them are being fulfilled.

Will a comet reach Earth?

The last prediction is perhaps the most improbable, although, given what has been seen, it could become a reality sooner than expected. In the fourteenth episode of the sixth season, Bart discovers a comet. What seems like a scientific discovery soon turns into a tragedy when it is confirmed that Bart's comet is inexorably heading towards Springfield, where it will soon impact:

National Geographic warned on February 1, that a comet that had not been seen for 50,000 years was approaching the Earth. It is true that in this case it did not crash into our planet, despite passing quite close. However, given The Simpsons' abilities, we don't rule out that it could happen. Only time will tell.