Did The Simpsons Really Predict the Pandemic and Murder-Hornets?

Did a 1993 episode of The Simpsons predict a pandemic followed by an outbreak of murder-hornets?

AW
Annaliese Wiederspahn

May 06, 20202 min read

Murder hornets simpsons scaled

If you want to know the future, you might want to spend some time watching “The Simpsons.”

When you’ve got a show that’s been on for 31 seasons, it’s inevitable that some of their stories line up with present events.

Fans of the show say The Simpsons correctly predicted, among other things, smartwatches, auto-correct, the Disney purchase of 20th Century Fox, the U.S. winning a curling competition against Sweden in the Olympics, and at least three Super Bowls.

But how about a worldwide pandemic followed by murder-hornets?

No way they could predict that one, right?

Well, if you go back to 1993 to an episode called “Marge in Chains”, it lines up pretty closely.

The illness back then was called “The Osaka Flu”. Just like the coronavirus, there is no cure.

The public health officer tells the protesting crowd that the only thing he can offer is a placebo.

“Where can we get these placebos?” questioned one panicked townsperson.

In the subsequent riot, the crowd turns over a truck. Unfortunately, the truck is full of killer bees which immediately start attacking them.

Pandemic followed by killer-bees. Coronavirus followed by murder-hornets.

Coincidence? Maybe. But in the meantime, we’re watching every episode to figure out when Yellowstone reopens. We’ll keep you posted.

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AW

Annaliese Wiederspahn

State Political Reporter