Over more than three decades, The Simpsons has earned a reputation for “predicting” real-world events—not through prophecy, but through razor-sharp satire, cultural literacy, and sheer volume. From explicitly naming Donald Trump as a future U.S. president years before it happened, to visual gags foreshadowing Disney’s eventual purchase of Fox, to eerily specific moments like Cypress Hill later performing with the London Symphony Orchestra or the U.S. beating Sweden in Olympic curling, the show has repeatedly landed close to reality. Many of its most accurate predictions stem from writers extrapolating obvious trends in politics, technology, and pop culture—such as video calling, smartwatches, voting machine controversies, and legalized cannabis—yet the specificity of certain jokes makes them feel uncanny in hindsight. While not mystical foresight, The Simpsons stands as a case study in how informed satire can sometimes look exactly like prophecy once the future catches up.

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