‘Simpsons’ Fans Think This 1996 Episode Predicted The Terrifying Riots At U.S. Capitol

It seems once again the writers at 'The Simpsons' were able to view the future years in advance. A 1996 episode predicted rioting on Capitol Hill, similar to what actually just happened on Jan. 6, 2021.

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January 9, 2021 1:06AM EST
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Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. As Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, thousands of people have gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his claims of election fraud. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
DC National Guard walk around the Capitol grounds, Thursday morning, Jan. 7, 2021 in Washington. The House and Senate certified the Democrat's electoral college win early Thursday after a violent throng of pro-Trump rioters spent hours Wednesday running rampant through the Capitol. A woman was fatally shot, windows were bashed and the mob forced shaken lawmakers and aides to flee the building, shielded by Capitol Police. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
UNITED STATES - January 7: The East Front of the U.S. Capitol is seen through a shattered door leading to the center steps in Washington on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, following the riot at the Capitol the day before. (Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
Image Credit: Everett Collection

Score another totally absurd but shockingly accurate prediction into the future for The Simpsons. The FOX animated show has had a long track record of making fun of things that would likely never occur, but ultimately did. The most famous one featured future president Lisa Simpson complaining in 1999 episode about inheriting “quite a budget crunch from President Trump,” who actually became POTUS in 2016. Now they’ve done it again, by predicting the riots Trump incited on Jan. 6, 2021, where he encouraged followers to head to the U.S. Capitol and “fight” Congress certifying Joe Biden‘s Nov. 3, 2020 presidential win via the Electoral College.

In a 1996 episode “The Day the Violence Died,” The Itchy and Scratchy Show had been replaced by a version of Schoolhouse Rock‘s “I’m Just A Bill” segment, where the white rolled up parchment who talks about how it is now “legal for policemen to beat…those liberal freaks” while atop the steps of the U.S. Capitol. The anthropomorphic amendment tells a group of gun-firing and bomb exploding amendments, “Doors open, boys,” as the amendments howl and run up the steps about to cause violence.

Capitol Riot
A mob of Trump supporters breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, going on to loot, vandalize and attempt an insurgency against Congress. Photo credit: AP Images.

Twitter user Francis Creaven posted the scene and wrote, “Simpsons predicted it many years ago #CapitolHill #WashingtonDC.” After Trump supporters looted, vandalized and terrorized the Capitol building and staff on Jan. 6 while attempting an insurrection, another more recent Simpsons episode was brought up that seemed to predict the violence and mayhem.  

That one aired on Nov. 1, 2020, two days prior to the presidential election. Homer Simpson fell asleep dreaming of voting in the presidential election and missed the actual act of doing so. As a result, he was shown sitting atop a building in downtown Springfield on inauguration day, holding a shotgun while the city was aflame and in ruins as “January 20, 2021” was shown at the bottom of the screen. Several Twitter users found screen-grabs of that moment in the episode during the Capitol rioting and posted them.

On Jan. 8, 2021 when Trump was finally permanently banned from Twitter for violating policy way too many times amid the company’s fears he would continue to use the platform to incite more violence, The Simpsons was back again. A screengrab of Donald Trump in bed furiously trying to tweet was posted by a number of users.

Late in the afternoon of Jan. 8, Twitter Safety’s account posted “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence. In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action.”

The message continued, “Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open. However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules and cannot use Twitter to incite violence. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.”

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