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From pandemic predictions to presidential prophecies, Springfield has been eerily accurate! Join us as we explore the most unsettling instances where "The Simpsons" foretold real-world events that actually came true. Our countdown includes three-eyed fish, NSA surveillance, and even a global pandemic! Which Simpsons prediction shocked you the most?
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00:00Hey Lise, my music is gonna make it a lot easier for America to swallow your big tax hike.
00:04Tax hike?
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo. And today, we're counting down our picks for the darkest things from
00:11The Simpsons that ended up happening in real life. We'll be getting into spoilers for all
00:16things The Simpsons, so consider this your warning.
00:19I can't imagine what we could have done to...
00:22Number 10. Three-Eyed Fish
00:26You see, every so often Mother Nature changes her animals, giving them bigger teeth,
00:32sharper claws, longer legs, or, in this case, a third eye.
00:36Word of advice. Avoid eating anything for the duration of this specific entry. That's because
00:41talking about a three-eyed fish is sure to make you lose your appetite.
00:45All right, we eat tonight!
00:49Wait a minute. One, two, three.
00:54In the fourth episode of Season 2, we meet Blinky, a special fish who, you guessed it,
01:00has three eyes. It was an abnormal experience to say the least.
01:04Oh, Mom, that felt awful. I'm sorry, dear. It will all be over soon.
01:09But Mom, we've become the tools of evil.
01:11Lisa, you're learning many lessons tonight.
01:14But believe it or not, a three-eyed fish was later discovered in real life in 2011 in Argentina,
01:21not too far from a nuclear plant. Blinky was originally a cheeky look at how dangerous
01:26nuclear radiation could be.
01:28I wonder if he's going to say anything about that horrible fish.
01:31Oh, Marge, what the big deal? I bet before the papers blew this out of proportion, you didn't
01:36even know how many eyes a fish had.
01:38And sure enough, we'd get our own Blinky in the real world. It's like life imitating art in a bleak way.
01:44Ultimately, Blinky is a reminder of the horrors of nuclear radiation.
01:50I suppose that's normal background radiation, the kind you'd find in any well-maintained nuclear facility,
01:56or for that matter, playgrounds and hospitals.
01:59Sorry.
01:59Number nine, stealing grease.
02:02Marge, if you don't mind, I'm a little busy right now achieving financial independence.
02:06With cans of grease?
02:08No, through savings and wise investment.
02:11Grease became quite the hot commodity in Lard of the Dance. The episode involves Homer
02:16illegally taking cooking grease from multiple establishments and reselling it to make extra
02:20cash.
02:21But if you help us steal this grease tonight, I promise we'll donate half the profits to charity.
02:27Dad, he's not stupid.
02:29All right, screw it. Let's roll.
02:30It's a baffling get-rich-quick plan, but the grease-stealing business turned out to be
02:34pretty lucrative. That's because cooking oil can be transformed into biodiesel,
02:38or used for various other purposes, so it actually has a decent amount of monetary appeal.
02:44People buy grease?
02:46Oh yes, they use it to make products such as soap, cosmetics, baby food.
02:50Used grease is worth money?
02:52As a result, many criminals ended up looting places in search of cooking oil.
02:57It's actually a pretty serious issue, and has even led to the creation of the term,
03:01Grease Thet.
03:02It's the stuff that makes your fried chicken and french fries so tasty. Cooking oil. But
03:07who knew that grease is actually liquid gold for thieves?
03:11Wait, did The Simpsons inadvertently create the next wave of criminals? Probably not, but
03:16maybe like your kitchen cabinets from now on.
03:18Guys, guys, the holes!
03:22But please, the groundskeeper and I are trying to settle this like adults.
03:28Number 8. Mass Surveillance
03:30Horrible, horrible things are going to happen!
03:35And they're going to happen to you, and you, and you, and you!
03:38Oh, really?
03:40Ever feel like you're secretly being watched? Well, you probably are.
03:44In a brief scene from The Simpsons movie, the NSA combs through phone calls in order
03:48to track down The Simpsons.
03:50I don't know if you guys should be talking so loud.
03:53No, Lisa, it's not like the government is listening to everybody's conversation.
03:58The NSA agents listening in on conversations is treated more like a funny joke. However,
04:04it's obviously a pretty concerning invasion of privacy.
04:08We should just lay low till we get to Seattle.
04:10Hey, everybody, I found one!
04:12The government actually found someone we're looking for!
04:16Yeah, baby, yeah!
04:18This would then become a huge lightning rod of controversy in 2013.
04:23That's because Edward Snowden leaked information confirming
04:26that the NSA was indeed participating in mass surveillance of the country.
04:31Look, I said from the beginning that how you publish is your business, and I trust you.
04:37The only thing I ask is you study the data.
04:38What was once just a silly gag now became a disturbing reality.
04:43Heck, mass surveillance is still a scary concern today.
04:48Moral of the story?
04:49Watch out for Big Brother.
04:50The people that are on my list,
04:53they have no idea that anything's about to happen to them.
04:55Most of them are just ordinary people.
05:00Like her.
05:00Number 7.
05:02Diddy's Controversial Parties
05:04When Mr. Burns and Homer find themselves at an extravagant party hosted by fictional celebrity
05:09JG, it proves to be an unforgettable night.
05:12Oh, it's a white party.
05:15Just the kind I used to throw.
05:16Although we interpreted the theme a bit differently in those days.
05:20Besides the odd, all-white theming of the party,
05:23everything has an underlying weird vibe.
05:25But some of the real shocking takeaways are just how similar JG is to Sean Combs, aka Diddy.
05:32My name is JG, and nobody crashes my party.
05:36Not even you, nobodies.
05:40Let's go, Mr. Burns.
05:41He not only looks much like the now-convicted rapper, but also acts like him, too.
05:46The white party from the great Fatsby now feels like an all-too-eerie representation
05:50of the highly controversial parties Diddy himself through.
05:54This, this is what I thought I'd never have again.
05:57Well then, good news, Monty.
05:59This is your party.
06:01Going out to parties is totally normal,
06:03but you should be pretty careful about which ones you attend.
06:08Number 6.
06:09The Capitol Riots
06:10So it's true.
06:12Some cartoons do encourage violence.
06:14Ow!
06:16We gotta get itchy and scratchy back.
06:17And soon!
06:18This isn't a show that's always known for its political commentary,
06:23but when they hit the mark, they really hit the mark.
06:26How come I've never seen that itchy and scratchy before?
06:28Perhaps because you are a prepubescent ignoramus?
06:31This is a bootleg copy of itchy and scratchy meets Fritz the Cat.
06:34Just take a look at the day the violence died.
06:36That's an episode about Bart meeting the man,
06:38who claims to have invented itchy and scratchy.
06:41That's the first itchy cartoon ever made,
06:43and it was made by me, Chester J. Lampwick.
06:46Find me a 90-year-old projector and I'll prove it to you.
06:50It follows the legal battle to get compensation,
06:52but what fans really paid attention to is one specific moment.
06:57And I'll crush all opposition to me
06:59And I'll make Ted Kennedy pay
07:02If he fights back, I'll say that he's gay
07:05That moment in question sees some fictional oddballs storming the Capitol.
07:10It's immediately a brief scene, sure,
07:13but all the parallels to the real-world January 6th Capitol riots are crystal clear.
07:18This clip aired way back in the 90s,
07:20but it's alarming how timely it's become in our modern age
07:24as political violence continues to occur.
07:275. Radiated Fruits and Vegetables
07:30You watch me, I'll grow something out there
07:32Not if you're planting gummy bears
07:35If you thought mutated fish were bad,
07:37a bunch of radiated vegetables aren't much better.
07:40During the fifth episode of season 11,
07:42Homer gets up to his shenanigans yet again.
07:44I made such a mess of things!
07:48If only there was some magic potion that would make those crops grow.
07:53Wait a minute...
07:54Only this time, he's taken up farming.
07:57But because he doesn't know the first thing about safety,
08:00he involves plutonium in the farming process.
08:03That's odd.
08:04The outside looks like a tomato,
08:05but the inside is brown.
08:07Maybe the tomato seeds cross-spread with the tobacco seeds.
08:10Oh great, I got a field full of mutants!
08:13This wonky experiment leads to tomaco,
08:15a strange cross between a tomato and tobacco.
08:19It's not only super addictive,
08:21but also probably pretty radioactive.
08:24I thought you said it tasted terrible.
08:25It does.
08:27But it's smooth and mild.
08:30And refreshingly addictive.
08:32As strange as this is,
08:34something pretty similar happened in 2013,
08:37when the fruits and vegetables near the Fukushima Daiichi power plant
08:40were horribly irradiated.
08:42Look, the point of all of this
08:44is that if your vegetables are radioactive,
08:47don't eat them!
08:48She says,
08:49Radiation-contaminated beef has turned up on the market.
08:52Broccoli, spinach, and shiitake too,
08:54all discovered after they were already on sale.
08:56Number 4.
08:57The FIFA Corruption Scandal
08:59When Homer gets a chance to referee the World Cup final,
09:02he's faced with a certain dilemma.
09:04Says here, Homer Simpson was recruited for his honesty and utter disinterest.
09:08How did he get those shorts on over that arse?
09:10Rumor has it they employed a team of pullers.
09:13He could either throw the game for a bribe and give Brazil the victory,
09:16or call it down the middle fair and square.
09:19Ultimately, he chooses the latter,
09:21which leads to Germany taking home the W.
09:22And with Germany the victor 2-0 in an unprecedented display of rectitude and stubbornness
09:28by one Homer Simpson.
09:30I've never seen the Brazilians so depressed.
09:33We applaud Homer for his integrity,
09:35and apparently he would have more integrity than most.
09:38That's because FIFA would eventually face a major corruption scandal in 2015.
09:42The result of a three-year-long FBI investigation
09:45of what's being called a rampant and deep-rooted corruption
09:48involving more than $150 million in bribes.
09:52When they were accused of money laundering, bribery,
09:55and all sorts of other nasty things.
09:58I myself am about to be arrested for corruption.
10:01You will have to take it from here, Peter.
10:03Yes, I will take good care of your wife.
10:06In fact, their HQ would be raided by authorities.
10:09Despite being a premier sports organization,
10:12they fumbled the ball big time.
10:14I'm afraid there has been an epidemic of referees being bribed to throw games.
10:19From the Premier Leagues to the Playgrounds, all has been tainted.
10:22Number 3.
10:23Ocean Gate
10:24Homer, that means your dad might not be your dad.
10:30I don't care what that letter said.
10:32This man raised me single-handedly.
10:35When Homer thinks he's met his true biological father,
10:38the pair take a trip under the ocean to find sunken treasures.
10:41Homer and his alleged dad, Mason Fairbanks,
10:44each travel in their own small ships.
10:46But Homer gets into complications with the coral and nearly loses his life.
10:51Dad, you've been in a coma for three days.
10:54They had to feed you through a tube.
10:57Oh, homie.
10:58I always believed you were gonna make it.
11:01Embarking on a journey underwater only to meet a deadly situation drew comparison
11:05to the Ocean Gate tragedy.
11:07That was when a submersible meant to explore the remnants of the Titanic imploded underwater,
11:12killing all who were aboard.
11:14Somehow, the master of the vessel had survived this incident.
11:19The board feels that that would have raised to a level that should be looked at for
11:24semen's manslaughter.
11:26What happened in this episode is pretty close to the real-life tragedy.
11:30Sure, it's not an exact one-to-one comparison,
11:33but it's still a stark reminder that the ocean can be incredibly dangerous.
11:37And that exploration comes with a cost.
11:41As I lay dying on the ocean floor, I remembered everything you've done for me.
11:45To hell with that stupid DNA test and its 99.99997% accuracy.
11:52Number two.
11:53Trump's presidency.
11:54This episode has lots of strange things going on.
11:57Oh, what a bleak, horrible future we live in!
12:00Don't you mean present?
12:02Right, right, present.
12:03Anyway, can I get you some Soylent Green?
12:06Isn't that made of people?
12:07It takes place in a future where Lisa has won the presidency,
12:10but that's not the biggest plot twist, though.
12:13During a cabinet meeting,
12:14Lisa mentions the debt problems her administration has inherited from President Trump.
12:18As you know, we've inherited quite a budget crunch from President Trump.
12:22How bad is it, Secretary Van Houten?
12:25We're broke!
12:26At the time of this episode, Trump was still just a businessman.
12:31However, in 2016, he shocked everyone by winning the election.
12:35I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear
12:38That I will faithfully execute
12:41That I will faithfully execute
12:43The office of president
12:45Regardless of whatever your political beliefs are,
12:48his win and subsequent first term was controversial to say the least.
12:52And considering that Donald Trump is now in his second term,
12:55this one line from Lisa is timely yet again.
12:59Well, remember when the last administration decided to invest in our nation's children?
13:04Big mistake.
13:05The balanced breakfast program just created a generation of ultra-strong super criminals.
13:09Since Trump has been elected twice,
13:11this prediction has essentially come true twice.
13:15Talk about a double whammy.
13:16My fellow Americans and voting illegal aliens,
13:19I will not mince words.
13:21Your country needs you.
13:23That's why today I am proposing a temporary refund adjustment.
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13:401. A COVID-esque pandemic
13:46COVID-19 shook the world like nothing else in recent memory.
13:50It was a moment when the world stopped spinning and time screeched to a halt.
13:55Seriously, who could have guessed that a globe-altering event like this would happen?
14:00The dreaded Osaka flu has hit Springfield with over 300 cases now reported.
14:05Now over to Arnie Pye with Arnie in the Sky.
14:08Well, Simpsons pretty much called it.
14:11Marge in chains introduced the virus known as Osaka flu, which quickly spread everywhere.
14:16Mother, get an extra special hug ready.
14:19I bought you a new juicer.
14:22Good Lord, flu germs entering every orifice in my head.
14:26Granted, the Osaka flu is different from the coronavirus,
14:30but an outbreak like this clearly had similarities to a real-world pandemic.
14:33People of Springfield, because of the epidemic, I have canceled my vacation to the Bahamas.
14:39I shall not leave the city.
14:41Hey, you, get that steel drum out of the mayor's office.
14:46This also wasn't the only time the show dealt with outbreaks.
14:50Lisa Sachs made references to the Ebola virus, which had a major resurgence in cases around 2014.
14:58Bart, would you like to read a book?
14:59Would you like to color something?
15:04I did.
15:05Wow.
15:06When it comes to deadly diseases, this show really seems to know something we don't.
15:11Are there any Dark Simpsons predictions we missed?
15:13Share the devilish details in the comments.
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