Long before Donald Trump became the 45th US President and Elon Musk set his sights on colonising Mars, The Simpsons seemingly predicted both events with unsettling accuracy. Fans of the iconic animated series are once again buzzing about its supposed prophetic powers after old episodes resurfaced online.
The Trump Presidency Foreshadowed
In a 2000 episode titled "Bart to the Future", the show depicted a future where Lisa Simpson becomes President following Trump's tenure in the White House. At the time, the billionaire businessman was better known for his reality TV career than politics. Yet 16 years later, fiction became reality when Trump won the 2016 election.
Musk's Martian Dreams Predicted
Even more remarkably, a 1995 episode "Deep Space Homer" featured a space mission to Mars backed by a billionaire entrepreneur named "Elon" - decades before Musk's SpaceX made interplanetary travel its core mission. The character even resembles the Tesla CEO, complete with similar facial features and business ambitions.
Coincidence or Something More?
While some fans believe the show possesses an uncanny ability to predict the future, others argue these are just lucky guesses from writers who understood cultural trends. "The Simpsons has always been brilliant at satirising American culture and extrapolating current trends," explains media analyst Dr Emily Winters. "What seems like prophecy is often just sharp social commentary."
The show's writers have previously downplayed these predictions, with former showrunner Al Jean joking that they've had "about a 70% failure rate" when trying to forecast the future. Yet the accuracy of these particular predictions continues to fascinate audiences worldwide.
