No, episode of 'The Simpsons' did not predict solar superstorm in 2024 | Fact check
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The claim: 'The Simpsons' predicted there will be a 'solar superstorm' in 2024
A Dec. 26, 2023, Facebook video (direct link, archive link) shows images of characters from the animated sitcom "The Simpsons" as a narrator warns of a supposedly impending disaster.
"The latest predictions from The Simpsons for 2024 are genuinely eerie," says a narrator. "In Season 24 Episode 9, Homer Simpsons is preparing a bunker fully stocked with provisions for his family anticipating something dreadful on the horizon. Shortly after, a solar superstorm strikes Springfield, a silent, invisible tempest sweeping through the town causing severe consequences."
The video was shared more than 800 times in 10 days.
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Our rating: False
The 2013 episode of "The Simpsons" referenced in the Facebook post makes no mention of a "solar superstorm," nor does it make any specific reference to 2024.
No 'solar superstorm' in 2013 episode of 'The Simpsons'
The post references an episode called "Homer Goes to Prep School," which first aired Jan. 6, 2013. The plot of the episode revolves around Homer Simpson's decision to join the "Springfield Preppers," a survivalist group.
However, there is no mention of a "solar superstorm" in the episode, nor is there any mention of 2024, as the post claims. A power outage becomes a major plot point, but it isn't the result of a "solar superstorm." It happens when an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) emanating from a malfunctioning machine at the nuclear power plant where Homer works strikes Springfield.
There have been at least several instances of people falsely claiming "The Simpsons" predicted certain events, including the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, the monkeypox outbreak, the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the Silicon Valley Bank collapse.
The show's creators, though, have refuted the idea that it can predict the future.
"I would say in general when people say 'The Simpsons' has predicted something, it is just that we were satirizing real-life events from years before, and because history keeps repeating, it just seems like we were predicting things," said former showrunner Bill Oakley in a 2020 Reuters interview.
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In September 2022, the episode "Homer Goes to Prep School" became the subject of a QAnon conspiracy theory after German lawmaker Friedrich Merz misspoke during a speech, saying everyone would remember where they were Sept. 24 rather than Feb. 24, the day Russia invaded Ukraine.
Merz later corrected himself, but QAnon followers still believed he had revealed a plot somehow tied to Sept. 24, linking it to the episode in question because it's Episode 9 of Season 24, as Vice reported.
Solar flares are massive explosions on the sun that "send energy, light and high-speed particles into space" and have the potential to disrupt "satellites, communications systems, and even ground-based technologies and power grids," according to NASA.
On Dec. 31, 2023, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration detected the largest solar flare to be observed since 2017, as USA TODAY previously reported. The agency warned that the flare could temporarily disrupt high-frequency radio signals but otherwise clarified the public had nothing to fear.
USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Lead Stories also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
IMDB, Jan. 6, 2013, Homer Goes to Prep School
AV Club, Jan. 7, 2013, The Simpsons: “Homer Goes To Prep School"
Reuters, Aug. 16, 2021, The Simpsons episodes are not evidence of ‘predictive programing’
NASA, Aug. 9, 2011, What is a Solar Flare?
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Dec. 31, 2023, X5.0 Flare Closes Out the 2023 Year
USA TODAY, Jan. 2, NOAA detects largest solar flare since 2017: What are they and what threats do they pose?
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'The Simpsons' did not predict a solar superstorm in 2024 | Fact check
