The Simpsons Fans Think Show Predicted Richard Branson's Space Flight

The Simpsons is at it again as fans claim that the show predicted Richard Branson’s space [...]

By Aaron Perine

The Simpsons is at it again as fans claim that the show predicted Richard Branson's space flight. This week saw the Virgin CEO take off into the stratosphere as a mostly confused audience looked on. Well, back in 2014, the show aired an episode titled "The War of Art." During the Season 25 entry, Lisa is arguing the artistic value of a forgery, and people are shown enjoying the artwork. Branson is shown floating in space with a painting and fans quickly got on Twitter to discuss another moment in this weird phenomenon. Now, it's important to point out that the Virgin Galactic CEO has been working on this space thing for a while. But, the images of Branson actually floating juxtaposed with the images from The Simpsons are surprisingly hilarious together. The billionaire has talked at length about opening up space travel for all people, but some are more than a little skeptical about the prospects coming to fruition.

Beloved Simpsons writer Bill Oakley talked to The Hollywood Reporter about the predictions and fan reactions. Most of that conversation was sparked by a 1993 episode where the show featured a deadly virus.

"I don't like it being used for nefarious purposes," Oakley explained. "The idea that anyone misappropriates it to make coronavirus seem like an Asian plot is terrible. In terms of trying to place blame on Asia — I think that is gross. I believe the most antecedent to (Osaka Flu) was the Hong Kong flu of 1968. It was just supposed to be a quick joke about how the flu got here."

"It was meant to be absurd that someone could cough into box and the virus would survive for six to eight weeks in the box," he continued. "It is cartoonish. We intentionally made it cartoonish because we wanted it to be silly and not scary, and not carry any of these bad associations along with it, which is why the virus itself was acting like a cartoon character and behaving in extremely unrealistic ways."

"There are very few cases where The Simpsons predicted something," Oakley said. "It's mainly just coincidence because the episodes are so old that history repeats itself. Most of these episodes are based on things that happened in the 60s, 70s or 80s that we knew about."

Do you feel like The Simpsons actually predict things? Let us know down in the comments below!

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