The Simpsons Writer Confirms They Predicted 2020 After Coronavirus and Murder Hornets Clip Goes Viral

There’s been a longstanding joke that The Simpsons has been able to predict the future, from the time Disney purchased 20th Century Fox to the United States Presidential Election of Donald Trump. But the latest reveal has proven to be eerie for many fans because of its current reflection of society. In the Season 4 episode “Marge in Chains,” the town of Springfield goes into a frenzy because of something called the “Osaka Flu” spreading among its citizens. In their panic for a cure, they accidentally release a swarm of killer bees, which both reflects the coronavirus pandemic and the “Murder Hornets” spreading around.

Longtime The Simpsons writer Bill Oakley finally admitted that they predicted the future, and well we can’t really say he didn’t at this point.

Back when the coronavirus prediction was making waves, Oakley told The Hollywood Reporter that he’s not a believer in his work’s predictive properties.

“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 added. “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 concluded. “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 think The Simpsons predicts the future? Let us know in the comments! Check out some of the fan responses below:

And so it goes

That must be a trip

Pretty hysterical

Sad times

Jokes flying

M O N K E Y ‘ S P A W

Think on this

But for real tho

OH NO

Maybe so

Down to the bees

Help us out

Great idea

Straight up spooky

Everything makes sense

Crossover vibes

What are the chances

I laughed