(WatchDogReport.org) – Producer and showrunner of the Simpsons Matt Seiman has blasted a fake image depicting former President Donald Trump lying in a coffin that suggests the comedy series predicted the attempt on Trump’s life. The image went viral on social media, leading many to believe it was from an actual episode of the show. Selman stressed that the show does not “play” in this way and claimed that if anyone linked the fake image to the series, then they did not understand its writing at all.
Several celebrities have caused controversy in the immediate wake of the assassination attempt at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, which left volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore dead and two others critically injured. Kyle Gass, of the comedy rock duo Tenacious D was dropped by his agent after a controversial joke about the shooting. In the original video, his bandmate Jack Black asked him to make a wish, to which Gass replied “Don’t miss Trump next time.”
Some commentators have accused conservatives of falling victim to the same “cancel culture” typical of the progressive Left in response to insensitive jokes about the attempt on Trump’s life. Selman nonetheless stressed how easy it was to fake Simpsons images to mislead others, and confirmed that it had never appeared on the show.
The Simpsons, long known for its satirical undertones, has a reputation for making several accurate predictions over the years. In a 1998 episode, Homer stole grease from Krusty Burger and the Springfield Elementary School. Due to rising oil prices, there was a reported spike in grease thefts, and one case reported in 2008 involved a man stealing over 300 gallons of grease from Burger King.
In 1993, the show predicted the “Osaka flu” epidemic, which bore a resemblance to the health crisis in 2020. A 2008 Halloween special predicted problems with electronic voting machines during Barack Obama’s presidency. Most aptly of all, a 2000 episode depicted Lisa Simpson as a future US president inheriting a “budget crunch” from Trump six years before he was first elected in 2016.
Following President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race and back Vice President Kamala Harris as the presumptive presidential candidate, commentators claimed this same episode predicted Harris’s entry into the White House. The video of the episode already went viral when Harris was sworn in as vice president in 2021, and writer Al Jean stated that he was “proud” to have predicted such an outcome.
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