Fans of The Simpsons are again claiming the show predicted real-world events, this time pointing to a 2023 episode that depicted a global power outage on a cold November day. The claims have resurfaced amid widespread disruption caused by a Microsoft outage and a scheduled US emergency alert test.
Episode Depicts November 17 Blackout
The season 35 episode, titled It's a Blunderful Life, is set 60 years in the future, where an older Lisa Simpson recalls a blackout that began on November 17. Lisa explains that a candle is lit each Thanksgiving 'in remembrance of the great blackout that almost destroyed our town, when we actually had to write things down by hand.'
In the episode, the blackout is caused by a severe storm, with Homer also receiving some of the blame. The episode has re-entered social media conversation as Microsoft works to restore services after one of the worst IT failures in years.
Microsoft Outage and Emergency Alert Test
Microsoft's global outage caused significant disruption this Friday 13, affecting the NHS, businesses and schools. The company has been working to restore email, Teams and other services since they went down around 6pm the previous day.
Microsoft said these functions were 'being gradually restored', while acknowledging that 'some users may continue to experience intermittent issues'. On its Microsoft 365 status page, the firm stated: 'Traffic is being gradually restored, and we're seeing improvements in key customer scenarios, including mailbox access and delayed email processing.'
The company added: 'Reducing email queues and backlogs remains a priority, and the extended 48-hour email timeout window remains in place to help protect delayed messages as delivery catches up.'
Fan Theories Spread Online
Before this week's tech chaos, the 2023 episode had already started to go viral after the US government announced a nationwide test of an emergency alert system, which will interrupt normal programming on radio and TV broadcasts next Tuesday.
Some fans have shared theories on X and Instagram, including one suggesting that the incident start time of 11:17am ET matches the date in the episode. The theory has been viewed tens of thousands of times on X. Many commenters noted that the date this year has yet to pass, so it remains to be seen whether any supposed blackout occurs.
