The Simpsons showrunner Al Jean admitted it's "very sad" a prediction he made about Russia invading Ukraine in a previous episode of the show actually came true this week.
"In terms of predictions, there are two kinds we have: The trivial, like Don Mattingly getting in trouble for his hair in ‘Homer at the Bat.' And then there are predictions like this," Jean told The Hollywood Reporter. "I hate to say it, but I was born in 1961, so 30 years of my life were lived with the specter of the Soviet Union. So, to me, this is sadly more the norm than it is a prediction. We just figured things were going to go bad."
Jean was working as a writer on The Simpsons in 1998 when it was predicted in the Season 9 episode "Simpson Tide" that Russia would start the next World War. In the episode, Homer is participating in a military exercise on a nuclear submarine when he unintentionally fires the sub captain out of the vessel into Russian waters. Russia responds by revealing the Soviet Union never truly dissolved, troops and tanks descend upon the streets and the Berlin Wall is instantly resurrected. Despite the controversial plot points, Jean revealed the show was able to clear the rights to use "The Internationale" for the episode, so there was no political pushback.
"Historical aggression never really goes away, and you have to be super vigilant," the showrunner explained. "In 1998, when this clip aired, it was maybe the zenith of U.S.-Russia relations. But, ever since [Russian President Vladimir] Putin got in, almost everybody has made it clear that he's a bad guy and bad things are going to happen." He continued, "There is the kind of prediction, where we reference something that has happened, happening again — we hope it wouldn’t, but sadly, it does."
For what it's worth, The Simpsons does have a long history of predicting major historical events before they happen. In addition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the show predicted Donald Trump's presidency and the Disney/Fox merger decades before they actually came to be true.
Simpsons writer Bill Oakley also admitted on Twitter that the writing staff predicted the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic back in Season 4. Responding to a fan at the peak of the pandemic, Oakley wrote, "OK, fine I guess we did." The writer included a clip from Season 4, Episode 21 ("Marge in Chains"), in which residents of Springfield start falling victim to a virus dubbed "The Osaka Flu."
Oakley also previously commented on the comparison of the Osaka Flu to the coronavirus and the racist jokes the show's virus helped spawn. "I don't like it being used for nefarious purposes," he said at the time. "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."
New episodes of The Simpsons air on Sundays at 8 p.m. EST on Fox. Season 34 is expected to premiere this fall.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter