We fact-checked 25 of the most famous predictions.
6 were eerily exact. 7 were completely fake.
Six predictions so specific, so accurate, that coincidence barely covers it.
In Season 11, Lisa Simpson becomes President. Her first words in office? "We've inherited quite a budget crunch from President Trump." Sixteen years later, it wasn't a joke anymore.
A throwaway sight gag showed a sign: "20th Century Fox, A Division of Walt Disney Co." The Simpsons predicted the acquisition of their own network. Twenty-one years early.
Milhouse holds up a sign predicting Bengt Holmstrom will win the Nobel Prize in Economics. By name. Six years later, he did. (Holmstrom was a respected MIT economist, but still: by name.)
Homer and Marge win Olympic curling gold, beating Sweden. In 2018, the US men's team beat Sweden 10-7 on their way to their first-ever Olympic gold. The show got the opponent and the upset right. Eight years out.
In 1990, Springfield parents demand Michelangelo's David be censored for nudity. In 2023, a Florida principal was forced to resign after parents complained about students seeing the same statue in class. Thirty-three years.
"Somebody ordered the London Symphony Orchestra. Possibly while high. Cypress Hill, I'm looking in your direction." In 2024, Cypress Hill performed with the LSO at Royal Albert Hall. They said the Simpsons joke inspired them. Twenty-eight years later.
Fourteen predictions where the Simpsons got the gist right. Sometimes satire becomes prophecy.
Each line spans from the episode's air date to when the prediction came true. Longer line = more impressive.
Not every Simpsons joke is a prophecy. These commonly cited "predictions" were actually referencing things that already existed.
Doctored screenshots, spliced clips, and AI-generated fakes. These "predictions" never happened.
The Simpsons isn't psychic. The math just works in their favor.
The Simpsons didn't predict the future. They made 750+ episodes and aired over 16,000 minutes of television. With that many jokes about the future, some of them were bound to land.