Sometimes The Simpsons got strikingly specific: a 2010 episode placed economist Bengt Holmström in a Nobel betting pool, and he shared the 2016 economics prize. Other supposed predictions are broad resemblances, familiar satire or jokes tied to events already in the news. The show did not demonstrate a reliable way to forecast the future; “prediction” is a label applied after the fact. Here are 21 often-cited examples, with the episode, the later event and how closely they match. The count is editorial, not canonical: TIME lists 17, The Independent 16, and Fox News publishes a different, longer selection.
Politics, public life and institutions
1. Donald Trump becomes president — “Bart to the Future” (2000)
In this episode’s fictional flash-forward, Lisa succeeds a presidency held by Donald Trump. The scene predates Trump’s 2016 election, but it did not invent him as a political figure: he was already a public figure and had run for president as a Reform Party candidate. TIME reported that writer Dan Greaney intended the line as a warning and said, “That just seemed like the logical last stop before hitting bottom.” Match: specific name and office, but a speculative fictional future built around an already-known political figure. TIME
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2. Greece “on eBay” — “Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson” (2012)
A news chyron jokes that “Europe puts Greece on eBay.” TIME later connected the gag to Greece’s financial crisis and missed repayment to the International Monetary Fund. The cartoon did not forecast the full course or causes of the sovereign-debt crisis; the line works as a sharp, broad joke about a country under financial pressure. Match: loose resemblance, not a specific forecast of a particular financial event. TIME
3. FIFA corruption — “You Don’t Have to Live Like a Referee” (2014)
The episode follows Lisa as she investigates corruption in international soccer, including the bribery of referees. In 2015, FIFA officials faced a major corruption scandal. Allegations and concerns about soccer-governance corruption existed before the episode, so the match is not a prediction of an unprecedented problem or a particular prosecution. Match: partial; the subject is specific, but the underlying issue was already known. Los Angeles Times
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4. A voting machine records the wrong choice — “Treehouse of Horror XIX” (2008)
In a Halloween segment, Homer tries to vote for Barack Obama, but the machine registers John McCain. A later Pennsylvania voting-machine malfunction was reported as recording votes incorrectly. One malfunction is not evidence of widespread election fraud, and the episode does not identify a real machine, state or election. Match: partial resemblance to a reported technical failure, not a prediction of a broader conspiracy. TIME
5. A Washington football team wins the Super Bowl — “Lisa the Greek” (1992)
The episode aired shortly before Super Bowl XXVI and correctly identifies Washington as the winner. That is an accurate result, but the timing matters: a prediction made just before a scheduled game is different from a forecast made years ahead. Match: a specific, correct pick with a very short lead time. Los Angeles Times
6. A U.S. curling team wins Olympic gold — “Boy Meets Curl” (2010)
Homer and Marge compete in curling at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, where their team wins gold. The U.S. men’s curling team won Olympic gold in 2018. The real team, event and year differ from the fictional mixed-doubles story. Match: partial; the sport and national outcome align, but not the details. Los Angeles Times
7. A tiger attacks a stage performer — “$pringfield” (1993)
A tiger attacks the episode’s parody of the Las Vegas magic duo Siegfried and Roy. In 2003, Roy Horn was mauled by a tiger during a performance. The real event strongly resembles the gag, though it was not an exact recreation. Match: memorable and fairly specific, but a stage-animal attack is not proof of foresight. TIME
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Technology and everyday life
8. Video calls — “Lisa’s Wedding” (1995)
Set in a future version of Lisa’s life, the episode shows characters communicating by video call. Video calling technology existed before the episode; what feels prescient is its depiction as an ordinary part of daily life, years before it became familiar to a broad public. Match: partial; the show imagined mainstream familiarity, not the invention of video calling. TIME
9. A communication-capable watch — “Lisa’s Wedding” (1995)
The same future episode features a watch used for communication. Later devices combined wrist-worn hardware with voice and communications features; the Los Angeles Times cited Intel’s 2013 device in discussing the resemblance. The cartoon’s imagined gadget is not the same as a particular modern product. Match: partial, as a broad vision of wearable communication. Los Angeles Times
10. A text-input error turns a threat into a snack — “Lisa on Ice” (1994)
A Newton device changes “Beat up Martin” to “Eat up Martha,” creating an autocorrect-like joke about text input. TIME reported that Nitin Ganatra, a former Apple director of engineering for iOS applications, said the gag became a rallying cry during iPhone keyboard development. This is an early joke about input errors, not a forecast of a specific autocorrect product. Match: specific as a comic error, loose as a prediction of later technology. TIME
11. A device translates a baby’s cries — “Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?” (1992)
Herb Powell’s fictional invention claims to translate what babies are saying. Fox News compared it with a real app developed much later. The resemblance is at the level of the idea; it does not establish that the cartoon anticipated the app’s design or arrival. Match: loose concept resemblance. Fox News
12. A person receives a delayed reply to fan mail — “Brush With Greatness” (1991)
Marge receives a reply from Ringo Starr, long after she sent him a letter. Fox News and The Independent compare that plot to a later reply Paul McCartney sent to two women. The people and circumstances differ, and delayed replies to fan mail are not a rare or uniquely foreseeable event. Match: loose analogy, not a direct prediction. The Independent
Science, business and the natural world
13. A blackboard equation and the Higgs boson’s mass — “The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace” (1998)
Homer writes a complicated equation on a blackboard. Mathematician and author Simon Singh later said that working it out produces a value close to the Higgs boson’s mass. CERN confirmed the particle’s existence in 2012. The reported numerical coincidence concerns an equation in a comedy scene; CERN does not present it as a prediction by the show. Match: a striking reported mathematical coincidence, not evidence that The Simpsons foresaw the discovery. TIME · CERN
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14. Three-eyed fish near a nuclear facility — “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish” (1990)
The episode’s three-eyed fish, Blinky, is caught near the Springfield nuclear plant. A real three-eyed fish was later reported in Argentina near a nuclear facility. The environmental parallel is memorable, but the cartoon does not predict a particular fish, location or documented cause. Match: broad environmental resemblance. Fox News
15. A horse-meat reference in school food — “Sweet Seymour Skinner’s Baadasssss Song” (1994)
The episode includes horse parts in school meals. In 2013, a horse-meat scandal exposed mislabeling and adulteration in parts of Europe’s food supply. The real scandal was not the same as secretly serving horse parts in a school cafeteria. Match: partial thematic resemblance, with different circumstances. The Independent
16. A tomato-and-tobacco hybrid — “E-I-E-I-D’oh!” (1999)
Homer grows “tomacco,” a fictional tomato-and-tobacco hybrid. The episode makes it a bizarre result of Homer’s farming and radiation, but it should not be treated as a scientific account of how hybrid plants are made. Nor is it a prediction of a later nuclear accident. Match: a comic agricultural conceit, not a verified forecast of a real-world event. Fox News
17. Greece as an object for sale — “Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson” (2012)
The episode’s “Europe puts Greece on eBay” chyron turns economic distress into an absurd auction joke. It is often grouped with later events in Greece’s debt crisis, but the line is not a precise account of the crisis or its consequences. Match: loose satire; the same example is discussed above with other political and institutional parallels.
18. Grease theft for resale — “Lard of the Dance” (1998)
Homer and Bart steal used cooking grease to sell it. Fox News points to later real grease thefts. Used cooking oil has commercial value, so theft is an unsurprising crime premise; the episode does not forecast a particular case. Match: loose resemblance. Fox News
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Entertainment, sports culture and publicity
19. Disney acquires specified Fox assets — “When You Dish Upon a Star” (1998)
A sign at the 20th Century Fox lot reads “A Division of Walt Disney Co.” In 2019, Disney’s acquisition of specified 21st Century Fox assets became effective on March 20, according to Disney and 21st Century Fox. The deal covered designated businesses and assets after a spin-off of Fox’s news, sports and broadcast businesses; it did not mean Disney acquired every entity associated with Fox. The companies described the transaction value as approximately $71 billion. Match: specific corporate joke that later resembled a real deal, though the companies and assets involved require careful distinction. TIME · The Walt Disney Company
20. A Lady Gaga aerial entrance — “Lisa Goes Gaga” (2012)
In the episode, Lady Gaga flies above Springfield while suspended from cables. She later made an aerial entrance at the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show. The performance resembles the visual gag, but the cartoon did not specify the Super Bowl or the event’s date. Match: visual parallel, not a precise event forecast. TIME
21. A real baseball team adopts the name “Isotopes” — “Hungry, Hungry Homer” (2001)
Homer discovers that Springfield’s baseball team plans to move to Albuquerque and change its name to the Isotopes. Albuquerque’s real minor-league club later adopted the Isotopes name. This is better understood as a pop-culture naming connection than a forecast of a future sports result. Match: an unusually close name overlap, but a naming inspiration is not the same as predicting an event. Fox News
Why do so many “Simpsons predictions” seem convincing?
The strongest examples have a traceable scene and a later outcome specific enough to compare: a named economist later sharing a named prize, or a fictional corporate sign that resembles a real acquisition. Others are broad ideas—video calls, wearable devices, corruption or food scams—that can match many later events without predicting a particular one. A visual similarity can be entertaining without being evidence of forecasting.
Selection also shapes the impression. The Simpsons has produced an enormous number of jokes and imagined futures across decades; the apparent hits are the ones people circulate, while the countless non-matches receive less attention. Retrospectives choose different examples and totals, and they do not establish that the writers had a predictive method. Treat each case on its own: what exactly did the scene show, what happened later, and how much of the resemblance depends on interpreting the joke broadly?
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