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The Simpsons showrunner Al Jean has spoken in an interview about an episode going viral on social media which viewers believe show The Simpsons ‘predicted’ Russia Ukraine conflict.
The Simpsons are certainly more accurate than your horoscope, having predicted the ending of Game of Thrones in 2017, the election of Donald Trump in 2000, the future of autocorrect in 1994, smartwatches in 1995 and a whole lot of other madness, from the ebola virus to Olympic victories and Superbowl outcomes to Nobel Prize winners.
It’s become something of a cultural phenomenon for social media to trawl through old episodes looking to see if the show has seemingly predicted the future again any time there is a global news story and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an unfortunate inclusion in the show’s many ‘prophecies.’
In a 1998 episode called ‘Simpson Tide’, Homer joins the US Navy and accidentally fires his captain into Russian waters in a military exercise, leading to Russia announcing that the Soviet Union was never dissolved, troops and tanks taking to the streets and the resurrection the of Berlin Wall.
As the episode that seemingly appears The Simpsons ‘predicted’ Russia Ukraine conflict is going viral on social media, showrunner Al Jean tweeted, “Very sad to say this was not hard to predict.”
Al Jean responded to The Hollywood Reporter, describing the prediction as “sadly more the norm”.
“In terms of predictions, there are two kinds we have: The trivial, like Don Mattingly getting in trouble for his hair in ‘Homer At The Bat’,” Jean said. “And then there are predictions like this. I hate to say it, but I was born in 1961, so 30 years of my life were lived with the specter of the Soviet Union,” Jean told the Hollywood Reporter. “So, to me, this is sadly more the norm than it is a prediction. We just figured things were going to go bad.”
“Historical aggression never really goes away, and you have to be super vigilant. In 1998, when this clip aired, it was maybe the zenith of U.S.-Russia relations.”
“But, ever since [Russian President Vladimir] Putin got in, almost everybody has made it clear that he’s a bad guy and bad things are going to happen. This is the kind of prediction, where we reference something that has happened, happening again – we hope it wouldn’t, but sadly, it does.”