Did ‘The Simpsons’ Predict The Coronavirus? It’s Debatable
The Simpsons have a reputation for predicting the future. From Donald Trump becoming president, three-eyed fish, even Sigfried and Roy being attacked by one of their tigers, the show seems to have some magic looking glass that helps them see into the future. Or it's just coincidence. However you feel about the iconic Fox animated family you'll have to admit some of it is just uncanny.
The latest to come out of The Simpsons future predictions is that the show predicted the Coronavirus outbreak. Let's break it down. The episode that people are saying predicted the Coronavirus is in Season 4 Episode 21, entitled Marge in Chains. The episode aired May 6, 1993 some 27 years ago. In the episode according to the IMDB page, "a misunderstanding leads to Marge being imprisoned for shoplifting, with her absence soon descending the family, and eventually, the town into chaos."
Part of that chaos is a Japanese worker coughs into a box, and that box makes its way to Springfield where the cloud of germs infects many of the characters. You might have seen this group of images circulating online.
All of the images but one in that graphic are indeed from that episode of The Simpsons. The news desk graphic is actually from another episode and has been altered to say Corona Virus rather than the very Simpson-y 'Apocalypse Meow' headline.
Various online outlets have deemed the claim of The Simpsons predicting the Coronavirus as false. Which would be correct as the illness in the episode was called the 'Osaka Flu.'
Take all is this with a grain of salt, as the show did indeed give us an episode where a country has infected another part of the world with a disease, but to say it was the Coronavirus would be taking it too far.
But if you want to believe it and chalk it up to the yellow Fox family, I'm not going to stop you.