Is "The Simpsons" written by psychics? Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most famous times “The Simpsons” writers looked into their magic crystal ball, seemingly predicting events and technology that later happened in the real world.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I have mastered the one true science, astrology.
00:04Don't you mean astronomy?
00:06No, my dear, I said astrology.
00:08Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most famous times
00:13the Simpsons writers looked into their magic crystal ball,
00:16seemingly predicting events and technology that later happened in the real world.
00:20Wow, you can see into the present.
00:24Number 34, video chats.
00:26Hey there with a personal call, Simpson.
00:29Oh, uh, but Mr. Milhouse, my little girl's getting married.
00:33Nowadays, video calling is everywhere.
00:35You can instantly see and speak to people on your phone, computer, tablet, and whatever else.
00:40Back in 1995, when the Simpsons episode Lisa's Wedding aired, it wasn't common at all.
00:46In fact, that year, the first public video conference between North America and Africa
00:52took place.
00:52In this episode, Lisa is told her possible 2010 future by a fairground fortune teller,
00:58leading to her seeing her love story with Hugh Parkfield.
01:01After their romance blossoms, the middle Simpson child long-distance calls Marge
01:05via a landline video chat, looking eerily similar to our modern-day technology.
01:10Don't worry, honey, I guarantee your father will behave.
01:14Mom, it's a picture phone.
01:15Number 33, faulty voting machines.
01:18In 2012, people were outraged about a video showing a Pennsylvania citizen attempting to
01:23vote for Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential election,
01:26only for the electronic voting machine to select Mitt Romney instead.
01:30As of now, we have two reports of voters who complain that their vote for Barack Obama
01:35in a Pennsylvania voting machine was changed to a vote for Mitt Romney.
01:39The machine was taken away and fixed before returning to the voting floor.
01:43Well, in the 2008 episode Treehouse of Horror 19, the opening segment features this exact issue.
01:50Homer tries to vote for Obama, only for the machine to select John McCain.
01:54Six votes for President McCain.
01:57Hey, I only meant one of those votes for McCain.
02:00This machine is rigged!
02:01After several tries to get the vote through, Homer attempts to warn officials,
02:05only for the machine to consume him and spit him out.
02:08Thankfully, that latter part did not happen in real life... yet.
02:13Number 32, the Hornet invasion.
02:19I'm cured! I mean, ouch!
02:20It's bonkers how one episode could have two major incidents happen in the real world in 2020.
02:27The odds of that happening must have been astronomical.
02:29In the 1993 episode Marge in Chains,
02:32a bunch of people experiencing hysteria are desperate for a cure. More on that later.
02:37After Dr. Hibbert mentions that he can only give a placebo as rest is the best cure,
02:42the crowd goes on a rampage and breaks a box in a truck.
02:45Where did we get these placebos?
02:47Maybe there's some in this truck!
02:48Clearly marked with danger killer bees on it, the bugs wreak havoc on the citizens.
02:53This bears a strange resemblance to the murder hornet invasion of North America
02:57when Asian giant hornets briefly terrorized the nation.
03:01Number 31, Washington wins.
03:03In 1992, three days before Super Bowl XXVI, the Simpsons episode Lisa the Greek aired.
03:09With a title playing on Jimmy the Greek,
03:11Lisa has a knack for helping Homer rake in money by betting on American football games.
03:18You'd think that, wouldn't you? But you see,
03:21Lisa, your mother has this crazy idea that gambling is wrong.
03:24When the Super Bowl approaches, a disheartened Lisa, who realizes her father is using her,
03:29says that if Washington wins, she still loves Homer. Amazingly,
03:33she was right when the then-named Washington Redskins defeated the Buffalo Bills in real life.
03:38But that's not all. The episode was dubbed during reruns the following year and also in 1994.
03:44Yeah, ever since I was a boy, I've always loved the Atlanta Falcons.
03:49Yeah, they're good, but I wouldn't count out the Denver Broncos.
03:52Each time, Washington was switched with the Dallas Cowboys, who won both Super Bowls.
03:58Number 30, FIFA's corruption scandal.
04:00In 2014, the Simpsons decided to mock football to celebrate the World Cup that year with the
04:06episode You Don't Have to Live Like a Referee. It featured a FIFA-esque official approaching
04:11Homer to ask him to be a referee during the World Cup as the organization and
04:14refs are dealing with corruption allegations. As he says this, the official is arrested.
04:20Mr. Simpson, please help us. The rot is everywhere.
04:23In fact, I see that I myself am about to be arrested for corruption.
04:28Homer then spends the tournament denying bribes before accepting them,
04:31then rejecting them again when his conscience kicks in.
04:34In 2015, the real-world FIFA was torn apart by massive accusations of corruption,
04:40damaging the World Football Authority's reputation so much it still hasn't recovered.
04:44Many executives were arrested and banned for life.
04:47They were expected to uphold the rules that keep soccer honest
04:51and to protect the integrity of the game.
04:53Number 29, ferret poodles.
04:56Imagine you saved up the cash to fulfill a lifelong dream of buying a toy poodle.
05:00Amazing, right? However, it's not what you imagined.
05:03The creature looks a little off and doesn't behave like a dog should.
05:07And one poor guy in Buenos Aires unfortunately purchased one of these ferrets on steroids
05:14and noticed that there was something a little fishy about it.
05:17In 2013, one man in Argentina took his two poodles to the vet, which cost him $150 to adopt,
05:24only to discover they were actually fluffy, groomed ferrets pumped with steroids. Yikes.
05:29Seemingly, the criminal mastermind was taking notes in 2002 for the Simpsons episode
05:34Papa's Got a Brand New Badge.
05:35After Homer sets up his own security company, he discovers Fat Tony has been
05:39sticking cotton balls onto ferrets to pass them off as toy poodles to sell.
05:43Hey, how'd you find us?
05:45One of these ferrets is wearing a wire.
05:49You're not a pet and you're not a friend. You're nothing to me.
05:53Number 28, Ultra House 3000.
05:56Today, many people have smart speakers in their houses that help them get through
06:00the turmoil of modern life.
06:02Hey, Pierce, how'd you know our favorite foods?
06:04I analyzed your, um, leavings.
06:09Whether it's Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant, or another brand, these virtual assistants can
06:14help remind us of tasks, lock doors, turn on lights, and whatnot. In 2001's Treehouse of
06:19Horror 12, the second-story House of Wax had the Simpsons install an Ultra House 3000.
06:25With the suave voice of Pierce Brosnan, the helpful device takes care of a lot of the
06:29family's troubles and tasks. However, the tech eventually goes awry when it falls in
06:34love with Marge, leading the family to destroy it to save their lives. Hopefully, real life
06:39doesn't take inspiration for the latter part of the story.
06:41I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission.
06:48And I want to help you.
06:50Number 27, Baby Translator.
06:52Since the dawn of humanity, adults have been baffled by what babies are after.
06:57Lavish attention on me and entertain me.
07:01Maggie, you talked!
07:03Does the high-pitched cry mean they're hungry or cold?
07:06Does the lower grumble mean they're bored or having an existential crisis?
07:10No one knows. Herb Powell, Homer's long-lost half-brother,
07:13wants to find the answer in this 1992 episode.
07:16To reclaim his fortune, Herb uses Maggie to develop a device to translate a baby's
07:21wants so adults can understand. In recent years, several companies have created devices
07:26to do the same thing. In 2016, a Taiwanese team led by Chuan-Yu Chong created the mobile app
07:32Infant Crying Translator to help with the puzzle. Then in 2023,
07:37Hubert developed a device that uses AI.
07:40What if the baby's tired or got a dirty nappy or whatever it happens to be?
07:45It really takes the guesswork out of parenting.
07:47Number 26, The Ocean Gate Submersible Tragedy.
07:50Don't! What do I do? What do I do?
07:56In 2023, the world was shocked over Ocean Gate's Titan Submersible vanishing on an expedition to
08:02see the Titanic shipwreck in the North Atlantic Ocean. People panicked as the vessel's oxygen
08:06ran out before it could be located. In the 2006 episode Homer's Paternity Coot, there were
08:11similarities to the real-life event. After Homer believes Mason Fairbanks is his biological father,
08:16the two go on mini-subs to collect treasure from a shipwreck.
08:20However, Homer's vessel gets lost and he runs out of oxygen,
08:23falling unconscious until he's saved.
08:26However, back in real life, debris from the Titan Submersible was found. It was discovered the poor
08:31safety standards of the vessel had caused it to implode, sadly taking the lives of five people
08:36on board.
08:37The Titan imploded, and it imploded most likely due to the delamination of a carbon fiber hull.
08:42Number 25, COVID-esque Illness.
08:45As we alluded to earlier, 1993's Marge in Chains had another big reason to
08:51terrify the year of Real World 2020.
08:53Good lord, flu germs entering every orifice in my head.
08:59After watching a Shopping Channel commercial for the Juice Loosener,
09:02the residents of Springfield go crazy for the device and order it in droves.
09:06However, one worker shipping the items in Osaka, Japan is so fearful of missing a day with the
09:11flu that he ends up coughing his disease into the boxes.
09:14When it gets to Springfield, the town is soon infected with very visual virus clouds,
09:19giving them all Osaka flu.
09:21The dreaded Osaka flu has hit Springfield with over 300 cases now reported.
09:26In real life, 2020 saw COVID-19 sweep across the world with a pandemic,
09:31causing many to sadly lose their lives as countries went into lockdown.
09:36Number 24, The Horse Meat Scandal.
09:38More testicles mean more iron.
09:41In 2013, the food industry in real-life Europe was in shambles.
09:46It was discovered that various frozen foods, which claimed they contained beef,
09:50actually had up to 100 percent horse meat.
09:53Some apparent beef dishes also included various other animals, including pork,
09:57which greatly affected those from religions that forbid the consumption of swine.
10:01Nearly two decades before, in 1994, The Simpsons aired the episode
10:06Sweet Seymour Skinner's Badass Song.
10:08During events, we see Springfield Elementary School has been cost-cutting their food
10:12expenditures as lunch lady Doris is mixing in assorted horse parts with extra iron from
10:17the stallions' nether regions.
10:19Delicious.
10:19Have you ever tried horse meat?
10:21They eat it raw in Japan, and…
10:24Number 23, The U.S. Wins Gold in Curling.
10:27It appears Team Sweden will clinch the gold, and they are over the moon with joy.
10:32Joy is but the shadow pain casts.
10:35At the 1998 Winter Olympics, curling was officially brought into the event as a sport
10:40rather than a demonstration.
10:42Beyond a bronze medal for the men in 2006, the elusive gold had evaded the United States.
10:47In the 2010 episode Boy Meets Curl, the sport was given a massive dose of advertising as Homer and
10:53Marge competed for the U.S. at the Olympics.
10:55Not only that, they defeated the Swedish team to grab gold.
10:59Fast forward to the real-life 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea,
11:04where the U.S. men's team took on Sweden in the final.
11:07Marge and Homer Simpson are depicted on the U.S. Olympic curling team,
11:11and they take home the gold, just like the U.S. men's curling team did for the first time ever
11:16this weekend.
11:17With life imitating art, the United States defeated their opponents in the final 7-10
11:22to take the gold for the first time.
11:24Number 22, Cypress Hill performs with the London Symphony Orchestra.
11:29Celebrities making cameos in The Simpsons is very often delightful,
11:33especially when they're happy to make jokes at their expense.
11:35Uh, do you know Insane in the Brain?
11:38We mostly know classical, but we could give it a shot.
11:42In the 1996 episode Homerpalooza, Homer becomes an attraction for absorbing cannon fire.
11:47During his tour, we see the hip-hop group Cypress Hill backstage at the fairgrounds.
11:52Turns out someone ordered the London Symphony Orchestra,
11:54probably while under the influence, and the manager looks at Cypress Hill, who goes with it.
11:59The two groups then play a classical hip-hop mashup of Insane in the Brain.
12:03Well, that's stuck in the real-life group's mind for years.
12:07In 2024, news came out that the LSO was set to support Cypress Hill
12:11for a gig at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England.
12:14Cypress Hill, the LSO is ready for you.
12:16Huh? The LSO? Did we actually order the London Symphony Orchestra? Maybe we did.
12:24Number 21, Kamala Harris' purple suit.
12:27Sorry I'm late. I've been racking my brain trying to think of something to cut from the budget.
12:34In this episode from 2000, Bart is shown a vision of his possible future.
12:39In contrast to his less-than-great life,
12:42Lisa has become president as she wears a purple suit with her iconic necklace.
12:46This outfit has a startling similarity to Kamala Harris' attire during her
12:50inauguration as vice president in 2021, including the necklace and pearl earrings.
12:55Lisa is said to be the, quote,
12:57first straight female president of the United States,
13:00which became a potential outcome for Harris after she secured the Democratic nomination in 2024.
13:13Number 20, Disney buys Fox.
13:16This episode from season 10 aired on November 8th, 1998,
13:20long before Disney and Fox considered an acquisition.
13:23At the end of the episode, a sign appears that reads 20th Century Fox,
13:28a division of Walt Disney Co.
13:30According to the episode's writer Richard Appel,
13:32the joke was written out of, quote,
13:34a general sense that soon Disney would own us all.
13:37You've got to keep our secret, Homer.
13:39He definitely wasn't wrong when it came to Fox.
13:42Nearly 20 years later on December 14th, 2017,
13:45Disney announced that it was buying 21st Century Fox for just over $52 billion.
13:51And with that, the Simpsons officially became Disney characters.
13:55The 2021 plus-aversary short showed just how strange and
13:58funny it is to see Springfield residents hang out with Mouse House characters.
14:12Number 19, smartwatches.
14:15In the episode Lisa's Wedding,
14:16we see the titular character prepare for a union in the year 2010.
14:20To prove that they're in the future,
14:22her fiancé Hugh Parkfield speaks into a wrist device
14:24that seemingly functions as both a watch and telephone.
14:31Modern audiences would probably think nothing of it today.
14:34However, the episode aired in 1995.
14:37Smartwatches were still in their infancy then.
14:40While similar devices did pop up in mediums like spy movies,
14:43the idea that an average citizen would have access to a phone watch was relatively original.
14:48It turned out that the Simpsons wasn't far off,
14:50because the first smartwatch that functioned as a telephone was introduced in 1999.
15:08During season 2's Brush With Greatness,
15:10Beatles drummer Ringo Starr appeared as himself and responded to some very old fan mail.
15:18This includes finally answering Marge,
15:25who had sent him some correspondence all the way back in high school.
15:29It turns out that this plot wasn't that unrealistic.
15:31While the real-life occurrence didn't involve Ringo Starr,
15:34it did bring in Paul McCartney.
15:36The legendary musician learned about a tape that was recorded by two fans back in 1963.
15:41Sometime after he got it,
15:42the BBC helped the older fans get McCartney's written response.
15:46Although it took 50 years,
15:48he seemed to appreciate him writing back.
16:00The Simpsons managed to predict the future
16:02and take shots at the American healthcare system in one delightful plot.
16:13When Mr. Burns cancels the prescription drug plan,
16:16many other companies follow suit.
16:18After people realize they can't afford medication,
16:20they hoof it over to Canada to get what they need.
16:23The journey paves the way for Ned to meet his Canadian doppelganger.
16:26During the encounter,
16:27the Springfield native was offered some legal Referino.
16:37While the green stuff wasn't legal in Canada at the time,
16:40it didn't take too long.
16:41Referino was officially given the okay across Canada in October 2018.
16:46That was nearly 14 years after the episode aired in January 2005.
16:59The writers must have really been looking into a crystal ball
17:02when they came up with Lisa's wedding in the 90s.
17:04When they weren't dreaming up futuristic phone watches,
17:07the animators were plopping in buildings that hadn't existed yet.
17:10While Lisa is in London,
17:11viewers are given a glimpse of various famous landmarks.
17:14It was pretty normal to see Big Ben and the Tower Bridge.
17:17However, there's also a pointy skyscraper.
17:20In March 2009,
17:22work started on what would eventually become the Shard.
17:25It would ultimately become the tallest building in the entire country.
17:28Not only does the Shard bear a startling resemblance
17:31to the tower seen in The Simpsons,
17:33but it's even in the right location.
17:35Now that's just eerie.
17:37Oh, it's good to hear a boisterous American laugh.
17:43When Dolph wrote beat up Martin into his Apple Newton in 1994,
17:47the phrase hilariously turned into eat up Martha.
17:50Hey Dolph, take a memo on your Newton.
17:53Beat up Martin.
18:00This was a joke aimed at the Apple Newton,
18:02which was notoriously bad at recognizing handwriting.
18:05But it also predicted the issues
18:07that autocorrect would bring to handheld devices.
18:09Technically, autocorrect was around by 1994
18:13in programs like Microsoft Word.
18:15However, it wouldn't be until 2007
18:18that autocorrect became a common and notorious problem
18:21for handheld devices.
18:22The joke actually did affect real-life development as well.
18:26Apparently, Apple developers made sure that autocorrect
18:29worked as well as it could
18:30after being lightly mocked in the episode.
18:36The mass of the Higgs boson.
18:38The writers of The Simpsons are extremely smart.
18:41Excuse me, are you a student at this school?
18:44I think it's pretty obvious that I am.
18:47Go school.
18:49So much so that they pretty much figured out
18:51the mass of the Higgs boson particle 14 years early.
18:55In the episode, The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace,
18:57Homer becomes an inventor
18:59and writes a complicated math equation on a chalkboard.
19:01This complicated series of numbers and symbols
19:04was penned by episode writer David X. Cohen
19:06and his astronomer friend David Sheminovich.
19:09Physicist Simon Singh later claimed
19:11that Homer's equation closely correlates
19:13to the real mass of the Higgs boson particle.
19:16While the episode aired in 1997,
19:18the mass wasn't officially discovered until 2012.
19:22We guess Homer's much smarter than we thought sometimes.
19:25They're on hinges.
19:26That's really ingenious, Dad.
19:31When Springfield legalizes gambling,
19:33Mr. Burns opens a casino
19:35and hires Gunter and Ernst to stage an animal show.
19:38A round of applause please for Anastasia.
19:41She loves show business.
19:42So much nicer than the savagery of the jungle, yeah?
19:45In a horrifying turn of events,
19:47they are attacked by their white tiger Anastasia.
19:50Even more horrifying is what came after.
19:52These two are modeled after Siegfried and Roy.
19:55This real-life duo formerly ran a highly popular Vegas show
19:59at the Mirage Resort and Casino.
20:01Around 10 years after the episode aired,
20:03Roy Horn was attacked by a tiger named Manticore
20:06while performing a show.
20:07He unfortunately suffered many serious injuries.
20:10While Horn survived the gruesome incident,
20:13the performer had to leave show business after the attack.
20:15What are you gonna do?
20:16Start your own casino?
20:18In your treehouse?
20:18And get all your little friends to come?
20:20I'd like to see that!
20:24As the title suggests,
20:26the 2012 Lisa Goes Gaga episode
20:28sees pop star Lady Gaga visiting Springfield
20:31and winning the Young Simpsons heart.
20:34I just can't ignore a billboard in pain.
20:36We're stopping in Springfield.
20:38But...
20:38No buts!
20:39During her musical performance,
20:41the musician wears a bluish silver outfit
20:43and flies over the crowd in a harness.
20:45The scene initially came off as a satirical love letter
20:48to Gaga's outrageous and bombastic style.
20:50However, it eventually became a reflection of real life.
20:54When Lady Gaga performed the halftime show
20:56at Super Bowl 51 in 2017,
20:59the similarities to the Springfield concert were striking.
21:02Lady Gaga wore an outfit very similar to the one seen on the animated show.
21:06Additionally,
21:07she just so happened to hover over the crowd in a harness.
21:10What's wrong, honey?
21:12Please, I've had enough attention for one day!
21:17Poor Homer and Marge couldn't even enjoy a nice night out.
21:21Look, honey, I clipped on my tie all by myself.
21:24And you look as handsome as the day we were married.
21:27Oh, happy anniversary, Marge.
21:30Their plans to visit the Gilded Truffle for their wedding anniversary were ruined
21:34when Grandpa failed to show up to babysit.
21:36Eventually, they're forced to skip out on the fancy restaurant
21:39and are taken to visit Up Up and Buffet.
21:41This airplane-themed restaurant simulates turbulence
21:44and serves leftovers in ARF bags.
21:46Since the episode aired in 1998,
21:49various airplanes have been converted into restaurants.
21:51These are located across the globe
21:53and serve food ranging from McDonald's to steak.
21:56Hopefully, most of these real restaurants stay stationary.
21:59Don't!
22:01Don't get too fast!
22:02Hey!
22:03Oh!
22:04Don't!
22:04Don't let him get to me!
22:09A 2010 Simpsons story saw Martin, Millhouse, Database, and Lisa
22:13bet on the winners of the various Nobel Prizes.
22:16We're watching the Nobel Prize announcements live from Stockholm.
22:19Oh, the Nobees!
22:21When viewers are given a brief glimpse of the betting pool,
22:23they see that Millhouse has bet on Bengt Holmström to win economics.
22:27But Martin won the bet by picking Jagdish Bhagwati.
22:30However, Millhouse was close.
22:32He was just six years off.
22:34In 2016, both Holmström and Oliver Hart won Nobel Prizes in economic sciences,
22:39quote,
22:39for their contributions to contract theory.
22:42While we will not try to explain what that is,
22:45we're sure Millhouse already knows.
22:46He's clearly smart enough to predict the future.
22:49It's time for the noblest Nobel Prize of all,
22:51the Peace Prize.
22:53I would kill for that.
22:58Game of Thrones had a real stinker of an ending,
23:01so bad that it was an actual joke on The Simpsons.
23:04The Surfsons is the 29th season premiere
23:07and takes place in an alternate medieval kingdom called Springfieldia.
23:11Oh, water soup again?
23:15Now it's crow soup!
23:17The end of the episode sees Homer reviving a dragon,
23:20which proceeds to rain fire on a nearby village.
23:23Look familiar?
23:24Nearly two years later,
23:26Game of Thrones would feature a very similar scene
23:28when Daenerys used Drogon to raise King's Landing.
23:31This story development was heavily criticized by fans and critics alike,
23:35and it didn't take social media long to scream,
23:38Simpsons did it!
23:39Look, the dragon is burning our village!
23:43I love my life.
23:46When the Simpson family visits Colonel Tex's traveling carnival,
23:49Bart is drawn to a virtual reality game called Yardwork Simulator.
23:53Marge hilariously informs him that he can do real work like this at home.
23:57I want to go on the Yardwork Simulator!
23:59But when I ask you to do yardwork?
24:03Naturally, real effort doesn't seem that appealing to Bart,
24:06but things have definitely changed since this episode aired in 1998.
24:10Modern gaming is full of simulator experiences.
24:14Through consoles, PCs, and smartphones,
24:16players can do seemingly boring chores digitally.
24:19There's even options to perform these tasks in virtual reality.
24:23While the games aren't for everyone,
24:2590s Bart would be in heaven in the 21st century.
24:28You chop my hands halfway off,
24:29and then I'll still have enough strength to chop-
24:31Get to work!
24:34In the fourth season episode Whacking Day,
24:36the citizens of Springfield get together for an annual event
24:39in which they round up snakes and eliminate them in the town square.
24:43In a tradition that dates back to Founding Father Jebediah Springfield,
24:46every May 10th, local residents gather to drive snakes into the center of town
24:50and whack them to snake heaven.
24:52This was reportedly influenced by real events called rattlesnake rodeos.
24:56Those events involve trading, releasing, and occasionally slaying the reptiles.
25:01But this episode predicted an even more violent occurrence.
25:04In 2013, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
25:08started the Python Challenge.
25:10And the Lord said,
25:12Whack ye all the serpents which crawl on their bellies
25:15and thy town shall be a beacon unto others.
25:19This event calls for Floridians to capture or eliminate
25:22as many Burmese pythons as possible for a $10,000 prize.
25:26In 2022, a competitor named Matthew Concepcion won by capturing 28 snakes.
25:32Oh whacking day, oh whacking day,
25:36our hallowed snakes go cracking day.
25:43Itchy and Scratchy make their way onto the big screen
25:45in this episode from season four.
25:47You'll find it in the Itchy and Scratchy movie,
25:50coming soon to a theater near you.
25:5253% new footage.
25:54Wow.
25:55In order to promote their movie,
25:56the studio puts out a disgusting interactive billboard.
25:59It mainly dumps a red blood-like substance onto passersby and into their cars.
26:05A slight variation on this theme actually played out in 2008 in New Zealand.
26:09Back then, the state-owned TVNZ2 was promoting the television debut
26:14of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 1.
26:16It was the greatest movie I've ever seen in my life,
26:19and you wouldn't believe the celebrities who did cameos,
26:22Dustin Hoffman, Michael Jackson.
26:24A giant billboard was erected in Auckland
26:26that saw a giant stream of blood spraying onto nearby prop cars.
26:30Luckily, no one in the vicinity reported that they were slathered in the liquid.
26:34The same cannot be said for the poor citizens of Springfield.
26:38Get dressed, Marge.
26:39You've got to lead our protest against this abomination.
26:43But that's Michelangelo's David.
26:46It's a masterpiece.
26:47It's filth!
26:48In the second season episode, Itchy and Scratchy and Marge,
26:51David goes on a tour throughout the eastern United States and stops in Springfield.
26:56Some people take umbrage with the statue's nudity
26:59and attempt to steal it from the statue.
27:01Some people take umbrage with the statue's nudity
27:04and attempt to steal it from the statue.
27:06Some people take umbrage with the statue's nudity
27:09and attempt to censor it.
27:11There are people who even went so far as to cover it with a pair of jeans.
27:15With this gag, the Simpsons was both satirizing the past
27:19and predicting the future.
27:20Various campaigns have attempted to cover up David since the episode aired.
27:24Incidents have arisen in 2001, 2014, and 2016.
27:29It's unknown whether more campaigns to conceal the statue's natural form
27:33will pop up in the future.
27:35Gym Mat Food
27:36After Principal Skinner makes some massive budget cuts at the school,
27:39the kids get really shoddy lunches.
27:41You cut back on everything.
27:43Salary, supplies, the food.
27:47I don't care what you say, I can taste the newspaper.
27:49The educator and the cafeteria staff even colluded to use
27:52shredded newspapers and gym mats as cheap food filler.
27:55In 2014, the public learned that many major fast food chains
28:00were using azodicarbonamide in their bread.
28:03This compound is used as an oxidizing agent with flour.
28:06It's also used to make vinyl foam.
28:09Ironically, that is what gym and yoga mats are made of.
28:12So, in an indirect way,
28:14real restaurants were taking a page out of Skinner's playbook.
28:18Fortunately, bad publicity caused many of these restaurants
28:21to drop azodicarbonamide as an ingredient.
28:28Is there anything that people won't steal?
28:30In Lard of the Dance,
28:32Homer and Bart conspire to sell grease for a profit.
28:34Upon realizing that everyday bacon grease won't do the trick,
28:37the duo starts stealing grease from the school and Krusty Burger.
28:40Okay, boy, this is where all the hard work,
28:43sacrifice, and painful scaldings pay off.
28:47The latter attempt even gets them in trouble
28:49with the mafia-like Acne Grease and Shovel Company.
28:52America saw a spate of grease thefts throughout 2012
28:55when the price of used cooking oil skyrocketed.
28:58In one instance, two thieves stole grease from a McDonald's.
29:02Honestly, we do have to wonder if the real thieves
29:04got the idea from watching The Simpsons.
29:13The Simpsons finds a source of humor in many things,
29:16including nuclear runoff.
29:18At the start of this second season episode,
29:20Bart catches a three-eyed fish that is named Blinky by the media.
29:28The deformed fish was caught near a nuclear power plant
29:31that is found to have 342 safety violations worth over $50 million.
29:44This remained a silly joke until 2011.
29:47During that year,
29:48fishermen in Cordoba, Argentina caught a three-eyed wolffish.
29:52Sure enough, the lake was used as a dumping ground
29:54for a nuclear power plant facility's hot water.
29:57We wouldn't recommend making a filet out of that catch.
30:00Before we continue,
30:01be sure to subscribe to our channel
30:03and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
30:06You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
30:10If you're on your phone,
30:11make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
30:18Like Lisa's wedding,
30:20Bart to the Future depicts, well, the future.
30:22While Bart lives as an aspiring rock star,
30:25Lisa is president of the United States.
30:28She inherits a massive financial problem that was caused by the last president,
30:32real estate mogul Donald Trump.
30:39This episode was produced during his presidential campaign of 2000
30:43when his victory seemed extremely unlikely.
30:46However, it stopped being a joke
30:48when Trump was declared the 45th president of the United States.
30:51The first episode following the announcement
30:53contained a chalkboard gag that read,
30:55quote,
30:56being right sucks.
30:57This drawing showed that the writers are not always happy about what they predict.
31:10Which Simpsons storyline do you hope becomes a reality someday?
31:13Let us know below.
31:14I've heard there's a cartoon show that can predict the future.
31:18Maybe we can watch it and find out what's going to happen.
31:23Did you enjoy this video?
31:25Check out these other clips from WatchMojo
31:27and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.