No, 'The Simpsons' Did Not Predict Queen's Death

Social media has been flooded with videos and memes stating that "The Simpsons" predicted the exact day that Queen Elizabeth II would die, but fact-checkers have dismissed the claims.

The hit animated show is legendary for its eerily prescient prognostications over its 34-season run. In one episode in 2000, the series included a joke Donald Trump made about becoming president of the U.S. In 2005, one of its main characters travels to Canada to find out cannabis has been legalized. In 1998, the show foretold Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox. 

So when images and videos began circulating on various social media platforms stating that "The Simpsons" predicted Queen Elizabeth II's Sept. 8 death, people believed it.

One of the most popular images that went viral shows a cartoon version of what appears to be the Queen lying in a coffin with a plaque above the body in the image reading, "Elizabeth II 1926-2022." However, fact-checking organizations including PolitiFact and Lead Stories have found that the image was doctored and that the show never included the dates of the Queen's death, Variety reported.

She was a regular character in "The Simpsons," appearing six times.

Meanwhile, other debunked claims about "The Simpsons" predicting the future include the 2019 fire at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in France, the 2020 deadly explosion in Beirut, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic and the deadly incident at rapper Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival last year in Houston.

And while most of the hoaxes are relatively harmless, some have received backlash for misleading the public on controversial or significant news events — like claims in June 2020 that "The Simpsons" predicted George Floyd's death, according to Insider, which noted that the false claims were slammed for making light of the incident.

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