Simpsons’ showrunner calls Russia-Ukraine war prediction “very sad” and not coincidental

Why didn’t we see this coming? Like a myriad of contemporary social and political events and some rare catastrophes predicted surprisingly accurately back in the 90s, the long-running Fox cartoon, The Simpsons had apparently predicted Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine back in 1998. But this time, it’s a rather sad revelation and even the showrunner Al Jean feels that.

.@TheSimpsons Very sad to say this was not hard to predict: https://t.co/oC9LScSHrU

— Al Jean (@AlJean) February 24, 2022

The similarity between the show and the current occurrences were first pointed out on Thursday by social media users prior to Russia launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

In conversation with the Hollywood Reporter regarding the recurring coincidences, Jean shared, “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. I hate to say it, but I was born in 1961, so 30 years of my life were lived with the spectre 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.”

The 1988 episode titled Simpson Tide looks closely at the moment that concurs the predicted reality. While on a nuclear submarine participating in a military exercise, Homer unintentionally fires the sub captain out of the vessel into Russian waters. Cut to Russia revealing that the Soviet Union never truly dissolved; troops and tanks descend upon the streets as the Berlin Wall is instantly resurrected. 

“Historical aggression never really goes away, and you have to be super vigilant,” Jean states. “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.”

It was reported that Ukrainian soldiers battled Russian forces on three sides on Thursday after Moscow mounted an assault by land, sea and air in the biggest attack on a European state since World War II after president Putin declared war on the immediate neighbour in a pre-dawn televised address. Videos showed explosions in several Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv. 

“There is the kind of prediction, where we reference something that has happened, happening again — we hope it wouldn’t, but sadly, it does,” Jean says. He further added that the series will likely address how the world is changing, but viewers shouldn’t expect a specific Russia-Ukraine reference.

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