Every now and then, pop culture feels strangely ahead of the curve – and you don’t need tarot cards to see it, just The Simpsons.
Across more than three decades, the show has racked up a long list of moments that seemed like throwaway jokes… until they appeared to come true in real life. From politics to tech and even fish mutations, Springfield has accidentally become the internet’s favourite crystal ball.
Here’s a fun Leasing Options round-up of 10 real-world moments that The Simpsons apparently “predicted” years earlier.
1. President Donald Trump
On the show:
In “Bart to the Future” (Season 11, 2000), we jump forward to a grown-up Lisa Simpson as US President. She’s trying to fix a budget crisis and casually mentions that the mess was inherited from President Trump.
In real life:
In November 2016, Donald Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States – and again in 2024 – instantly turning that gag into one of the show’s most famous “predictions”. Writers later said it was meant as a warning, not a wish.
2. Disney buys 20th Century Fox
On the show:
In the 1998 episode “When You Dish Upon a Star”, there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot of a studio sign reading:
“20th Century Fox – A Division of Walt Disney Co.”
In real life:
In 2017, Disney announced a deal to acquire most of 21st Century Fox, completed in March 2019 – exactly the kind of mega-merger the joke was poking fun at.
3. Kamala Harris and Lisa’s presidential outfit
On the show:
Back in “Bart to the Future”, President Lisa wears a purple jacket and pearls in the Oval Office – a distinctive look that stuck with fans.
In real life:
At the 2021 inauguration of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris wore a purple coat and dress with pearls, prompting instant side-by-side comparisons with Lisa’s cartoon presidency. News outlets and fans widely pointed out how eerily similar the outfits were.
4. Siegfried & Roy’s tiger attack
On the show:
In “$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)” (1993), Springfield legalises gambling and Mr Burns’ casino hires German magicians Gunter and Ernst – obvious parodies of Siegfried & Roy. During their act, they’re dramatically mauled by their white tiger.
In real life:
In 2003, magician Roy Horn was seriously injured when a white tiger attacked him on stage during a Las Vegas show, effectively ending the duo’s long-running act.
5. Smartwatches and video calls
On the show:
In “Lisa’s Wedding” (1995), we see a future where Lisa’s fiancé uses a watch-like device to communicate, and Lisa chats to Marge using a chunky “picture phone” for a video call.
In real life:
By the 2010s, smartwatches and video calling (FaceTime, Zoom, WhatsApp, you name it) had become totally normal. Tech writers regularly reference “Lisa’s Wedding” when talking about how the show embedded this kind of tech into everyday life long before it was standard.
6. Autocorrect (and the infamous “Eat up Martha”)
On the show:
In 1994’s “Lisa on Ice”, bully Kearney writes “Beat up Martin” on his Apple Newton. The device mangles the handwriting into “Eat up Martha”, and he hurls it at Martin in frustration.
In real life:
The Newton really did struggle with handwriting recognition. Years later, Apple engineers said that “Eat up Martha” became an internal cautionary tale when they were obsessing over getting the iPhone keyboard right – basically: never ship something that bad again.
7. Translating baby cries
On the show:
In “Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?” (1992), Homer’s half-brother Herb Powell invents a baby translator – a device that turns infant babble into clear speech. It makes him rich and saves his business.
In real life:
Fast-forward to today and you’ll find apps and AI tools that analyse baby cries and claim to tell parents whether their baby is hungry, tired or in pain, based on sound patterns and huge databases of recorded cries.
Herb might have been a cartoon, but the idea of turning crying into data is now a serious tech business.
8. Team USA’s curling win over Sweden
On the show:
In “Boy Meets Curl” (2010), Homer and Marge join the US mixed curling team and end up beating Sweden to win Olympic gold.
In real life:
At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Team USA’s men’s curling team won gold in PyeongChang – beating Sweden in the final. Sports and entertainment sites were very quick to point out the Simpsons crossover.
9. Faulty electronic voting machines
On the show:
The 2008 Halloween special “Treehouse of Horror XIX” opens with Homer trying to vote for Barack Obama on an electronic voting machine. The machine repeatedly changes his vote to John McCain, then literally eats him.
In real life:
During the 2012 US presidential election, voters reported glitches with electronic voting machines, including at least one widely reported case where a machine kept switching a vote from Obama to Mitt Romney until it was taken out of service and recalibrated.
No carnivorous machines were involved, but the basic worry was exactly the same as Homer’s.
10. Blinky, the three-eyed fish
On the show:
Blinky, the three-eyed orange fish, appears near Springfield’s nuclear power plant and becomes a recurring symbol of Mr Burns’ toxic environmental record.
In real life:
In 2011, fishermen in Córdoba, Argentina caught a three-eyed wolf fish in a reservoir fed by water from a nearby nuclear facility. News outlets and blogs immediately dubbed it “the real-life Blinky” and ran Simpsons comparison pictures.
From presidents and purple suits to tiger mishaps and mutant fish, it’s no wonder people talk about The Simpsons like it’s running on some secret future-predicting software.
But there’s one legendary Simpsons creation that hasn’t come true (yet) -
“The Homer” – the utterly over-the-top family car Homer designs for his half-brother Herb’s company, with a separate bubble dome for the kids, multiple horns, absurd styling and a ruinous price tag.
In a Reddit thread titled “Remember the car Homer designed for his half-brother Herb’s car company? Am I crazy for wanting one of those?”, fans joke
If “The Homer” ever rolled off a real production line, it might be the secret dream car for parents of noisy kids. That ridiculous-looking bubble dome suddenly feels genius - stick the kids in the back where they can blast Fortnite’s new The Simpsons season, argue over awful playlists or spam TikTok, while mum and dad enjoy a calm front cabin, their own music/podcast on the school run or family trip. It’s either the future of family motoring, or proof that Homer Simpson understood modern family life a bit too well.
In a world where Disney owns Fox, smartwatches are boringly normal and three-eyed fish are real, would anyone really bet against a real-world version of Homer’s dream car turning up on a forecourt one day?
