Following U.S. President Joe Biden’s announcement on July 21 that he would withdraw from the 2024 presidential race and support his Vice President, Kamala Harris, as the Democratic candidate, Harris has become the center of attention. This announcement came amid increasing pressure on Biden to step down due to concerns about his health and age.
Social media users have shared clips from “The Simpsons,” suggesting that the show predicted Kamala Harris’s presidential bid, adding to the series’ infamous track record of making uncanny predictions.
The clips in question are from a season 11 episode titled “Bart to the Future,” where the character Lisa Simpson becomes President of the United States.
So, did “The Simpsons” actually predict Kamala Harris’s presidential run? Is there any logical explanation for this supposed prediction in the show?
Did “The Simpsons” Predict Kamala Harris’s Presidential Run?
According to The Independent, the clips believed to predict Kamala Harris’s rise are from a season 11 episode of “The Simpsons” aired in 2000 titled “Bart to the Future.”
In this episode, Lisa Simpson becomes the President of the United States and is seen wearing an outfit strikingly similar to what Kamala Harris wore during President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021. Both wore pearl earrings and necklace with a purple jacket.
Social Media Reactions to the Prediction
Bloggers have pointed out the similarities between the inauguration ceremony and the scenes from the episode where Lisa is in the Oval Office, stating that her presidency “inherited a budget crisis from President Trump.”
Blogger Jeff Berwick showcased a clip from the episode alongside a picture of Vice President Harris, commenting, “The Simpsons did it again. Here’s a scene from the 17th episode of the 11th season in 2000, showing Lisa Simpson as the first female President of the United States, talking about overcoming crises after President Trump. And here is Kamala Harris wearing the same outfit during Biden’s inauguration.”
One of the show’s writers, Al Jean, expressed his pride in being part of it, sharing side-by-side images of Lisa and Harris in remarkably similar outfits.
Over the weekend, many social media users highlighted the latest similarity, with one person writing, “The Simpsons has become one of the most enduring mysteries of our time.”
This isn’t the first time the animated series has appeared to predict significant political events. Fans of “The Simpsons” have long believed the show has forecasted future historical events, including Trump’s election in 2016, the January 6 Capitol riot, and Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
Bill Oakley, a former producer of the show, said in a 2020 interview with Reuters, “Generally, when people say that The Simpsons predicted something, it’s just because we were making fun of real-life events that happened years earlier because history keeps repeating itself. It looks like we were predicting things,” according to USA Today.
Other Predictions from “The Simpsons”
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- 9/11 Attacks: In the 1997 episode “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson,” a scene shows Homer holding a brochure next to images of the Twin Towers, which some interpreted as foreshadowing the September 11, 2001 attacks.
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- COVID-19: The 1993 episode “Marge in Chains” features a virus called “Osaka Flu” spreading from Japan to the United States, which some believed predicted the COVID-19 pandemic.
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- Disney’s Purchase of Fox: In a 1998 episode, an image shows Disney buying 20th Century Fox, a prediction that came true in 2019.
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- Smart Devices: Various episodes featured devices similar to modern smartphones and smartwatches before they became common.
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- Facebook: The 1995 episode “Lisa’s Wedding” depicted social networking via computers years before Facebook was founded in 2004.
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- Horse Meat Scandal: The 1994 episode “Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baadasssss Song” showed horse meat being used in school lunches, a real scandal that broke in Europe in 2013.
The Only Accurate Prediction
In an interview with Motherboard, Bill Oakley, one of the show’s writers, acknowledged that the only precise prediction was Donald Trump’s election as President.
Oakley explained that the satire wasn’t meant to predict the future but to envision the worst possible scenarios for the United States. Ultimately, “The Simpsons” serves as a critique of American life and policies that could lead the country astray. Electing someone like Trump seemed improbable at the time, representing the worst-case scenario.
After Trump’s election and the subsequent claims of the show’s prediction, Oakley remarked, “We were just envisioning the worst-case scenario, and here we are at rock bottom.”
“The Simpsons” is more than a comedic show; it has a reputation for its strange ability to “predict” the future. The series often presents events that later match real-world occurrences, drawing attention and analysis from viewers.
However, most of these predictions are considered coincidences or the result of over-interpretation by the audience. Despite seeming accurate at times, the show primarily reflects reality with a satirical and critical lens, with so-called “predictions” often being a portrayal of existing social and political trends.
