Why Fans Think ‘The Simpsons’ Predicted The Covid-19 Lockdown Scandal
Whoa.
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The long-running cartoon series has a reputation for eerily predicting the future, especially when it comes to events in pop culture and world history.
The latest prediction that has fans totally freaking out has to do with the Texas lockdown scandal involving the Mayor of Austin, Steve Adler.
Did The Simpsons predict the COVID-19 lockdown scandal?
Here’s everything you need to know about the Steve Adler controversy, as well as the 1993 The Simpsons episode that seemingly foretold the future.
Steve Adler, Mayor of Austin, urged people to stay home amid the surge of coronavirus cases in Texas.
As the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise across the country, Steve Adler, the mayor of Austin, told residents of the city to stay home to stop the spread of the virus.
"We need to stay home if you can," he said in a video posted to Facebook back in November. "This is not the time to relax. We are going to be looking really closely. We may have to close things down if we are not careful."
Seems legit, right?
There’s one big problem, though: Adler recorded the video while he was vacationing in Mexico with eight other people.
Originally, Adler said he didn’t do anything wrong, but after receiving major backlash for his hypocritical message to the residents of his city, he seemingly had a change of consciousness about the matter:
“I wouldn't travel now, didn't over Thanksgiving and won't over Christmas. But my fear is that this travel, even having happened during a safer period, could be used by some as justification for risky behavior. In hindsight, and even though it violated no order, it set a bad example for which I apologize."
Adler also attended his daughter’s wedding earlier in Nov. while the state of Texas was under Stage 3 COVID guidelines, which prohibits gatherings of more than 10 people. The wedding had more than 20 guests in attendance.
The Simpsons episode “Marge in Chains” seemingly predicted the scandal.
The show has a reputation for predicting future events, and this is no different. In the episode “Marge in Chains,” which originally aired in 1993, Mayor Quimby secretly vacations while the city of Springfield has a terrible influenza outbreak.
Mayor Quimby addresses the city in a televised broadcast where he’s seemingly wearing a suit, saying, "Because of the epidemic I have cancelled my vacation to the Bahamas."
But after the camera pans out of his broadcast, viewers can see that he’s wearing swim trunks, and he is, indeed, still on vacation.
Twitter users were quick to point out the similarities between Mayor Quimby and Mayor Adler.
“Hey look it’s @austintexasgov‘s mayor! Who knew Steve Adler made it on the simpsons,” one social media user wrote, while another said, “Steve Adler, what gives?”
What other events has The Simpsons predicted?
Some conspiracy theorists believe that The Simpsons predicted the 2017 Notre Dame fire, as well as 9/11.
The Simpsons also scarily predicted in 2000 that Donald Trump would one day become president.
In an episode called “Bart to the Future,” Lisa is president and tries to “rebuild the economy” after Donald Trump ruined it while he was president.
"What we needed was for Lisa to have problems beyond her fixing, that everything went as bad as it possibly could, and that's why we had Trump be president before her,” writer Dan Greaney said.
Even if you aren’t the type to believe in internet conspiracy theories, there’s no denying that The Simpsons has been scarily accurate when it comes to monumental events in history.
Olivia Jakiel is an editor and writer who covers celebrity and entertainment news. Follow her on Instagram and keep up with her zingers on Twitter.