Simpson Predictions That Were Just Internet Hoaxes

After the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March of 2023, an old "Simpsons" clip resurfaced on the internet that allegedly predicted the bank’s collapse despite airing in 1995. In the clip, bank customers freak out and attempt to withdraw all of their money after Bart tricks them into thinking the bank is headed for closure. 

While the clip in question shows the bank’s name as Silicon Valley Bank, the scene had been doctored. The original episode clearly shows the bank’s name as First Bank of Springfield. While the clip may not have predicted the future, it was parodying a famous scene from a past movie – "It’s a Wonderful Life." 

After then-U.S. President Donald Trump floated the idea of buying Greenland from Denmark in 2019, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy tweeted that "The Simpsons" predicted this exact scenario “word for word” in 1995. 

It’s unclear whether Murphy was just joking when he tweeted this, but some online took it as true (despite the fact that this never happened in an episode). In fact, the first mention of Trump on the show didn’t occur until the year 2000. 

In 2017, then-U.S. President Donald Trump was photographed touching an illuminated globe with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. In true internet fashion, it wasn’t long after before people started posting fake photos claiming that "The Simpsons" had predicted this scene back in 2002. 

While the Simpsons-ified picture of the politicians was real, it didn’t first appear in 2002. Instead, it first showed up on the internet on May 26, 2017— almost a week after the original photo was published. 

In August 2020, an explosion rocked the city of Beirut and claimed more than 200 lives. Then, in one of the scarier instances of fake Simpsons predictions, people started claiming that the show had predicted this tragedy — and they even had a clip to prove it. 

Unfortunately, the clip in question is actually spliced together from two different episodes of the show. While both scenes featured explosions, they are unrelated to one another, much less a real-life explosion. 

In April  2019, the world-famous Notre Dame Cathedral caught fire and sustained extensive damage. At this point, it should come as no surprise that internet users quickly invented a fake Simpsons prediction about the tragic event. 

An image of Mr. Burns standing in front of a burning “Notre Dame of Springfield” began to circulate online, but this was a doctored photo. The Notre Dame of Springfield was actually featured in a 2007 episode, but the flames on the building and Mr. Burns’ presence were added later to try and pull a fast one on internet users. 

According to a video that appeared online in August of 2015, "The Simpsons" predicted Donald Trump’s presidency way back in 2002. The video featured side-by-side images of the real Trump along with the alleged clips from the show that are almost perfect matches of the photos. 

While these clips were indeed real, they didn’t first appear in 2002. Instead, they first appeared in a promotional video for Fox’s "Animation Domination" lineup that was uploaded in July 2015 — after Trump had announced his presidential run. Whoever made the images wasn’t a psychic … just paying attention to the news! 

In 1994, "The Simpsons" featured a scene where the school bully attempts to put a memo in his PDA as a reminder to “Beat up Martin.” However, the device hilariously autocorrects this to “Eat up Martha.” Many people took this as evidence that the show had predicted autocorrect and all the hilarious mix-ups it inspires. 

While this is actually a real clip from the show, there’s just one problem — autocorrect already existed in 1994. By 1993, Microsoft was heavily pushing Word’s autocorrect features in marketing materials. So, while the joke may have been funny, it wasn’t predicting the future. 

Considering that he’s baring it all for the world to see, it’s probably no surprise that there have been campaigns to censor both the original David statue as well as replicas. However, some people wrongly think "The Simpsons" predicted this censorship because of a 1990 episode where characters put a pair of blue jeans on the statue. 

While it was a hilarious scene, in reality, calls to censor Michelangelo’s masterpiece have been around since it was unveiled in 1504. So, the show wasn't predicting that censorship as much as it was making fun of censorship that already existed surrounding the statue.

The era of the smartwatch didn’t begin until around 2015, so what in the world is one doing in a 1995 episode of "The Simpsons"? In “Lisa’s Wedding,” a fortune-teller gives Lisa a glimpse into the future, and in one scene, her future husband is seen speaking into his watch like a phone. 

While this is a genuine scene from the show, the creators aren’t the first to think of this invention. The history of this sci-fi gadget goes back at least as far as the Dick Tracy comic strips of the 1940s. Since then, we’ve seen various fictional characters rocking this high-tech device that is now a reality. 

In June of 2023, an underwater voyage into the wreckage of the Titanic went missing. Several days later, wreckage from the submersible was found, and all passengers were declared dead. Once again, after the tragedy, people began bizarrely claiming that "The Simpsons" had predicted this years before. 

In a 2006 episode, Homer uses a submarine to search for jewels underwater but eventually runs out of oxygen and ends up in the hospital. While the plot of this episode vaguely follows the real-life events of 2023, it’s not anywhere near similar enough to be chalked up to anything other than coincidence.