Fans are adding Tom Hanks' recent coronavirus
diagnosis to the never-ending list of things
The Simpsons has freakishly predicted.
In their 30-plus years on the air, The Simpsons
has become something of a prophetic franchise,
with several series plot points that became,
to various degrees, a reality.
Among the series' weirdest and wildest predictions
were the winners of several Super Bowls, the
Siegfried and Roy tiger attack, and, most
recently, Donald Trump's presidential election.
"Hey Homer, didn't you say if Duff Dry wins,
your daughter loves you?"
"Not Duff Dry.
Washington!"
"Okay, okay, they're both great teams."
Because of The Simpsons' track record for
calling the future sometimes decades before
it happens, fans are now freaking out about
what they see as an uncanny link between Tom
Hanks' cameo in 2007's The Simpsons Movie
and his coronavirus quarantine after he and
his wife, Rita Wilson, tested positive for
the virus.
At one point in the film, the Cast Away star
appears in an advertisement for a new Grand
Canyon being built in Springfield.
During the end credits of the movie, Hanks,
voicing himself, has a little something extra
to say.
"This is Tom Hanks saying if you see me in
person, please, leave me be."
Many are taking this gag as a prediction of
Hanks' COVID-19 diagnosis.
But while there have certainly been a few
shocking parallels between The Simpsons' plot
lines and real-life events, the connection
between Hanks' quarantine and the PSA-style
cameo is pretty thin.
First of all, Hanks isn't ill in The Simpsons
Movie, he's simply using his credibility to
help out the government and advertise the
new Grand Canyon that will replace Springfield.
It's easy to see how the parallels between
the movie's quarantine situation and Hanks'
predicament might have some crossover, but
it's a weak link at best.
Not only does the dialogue in question sound
like something just about every famous person
says about going out in public, but the circumstances
of the quarantine are also drastically different.
The cameo and Hanks' current status actually
mirrors some of The Simpsons' other softer
predictions, like the three-eyed fish Bart
found near a Springfield power plant during
a 1990 episode mirroring three-eyed fish that
was discovered in a reservoir in Argentina
near a nuclear power plant nearly a decade
later.
There are similarities between what happens
in The Simpsons Movie and what's going on
in real life, but anyone claiming that the
film predicted Hanks getting the coronavirus
is committing a huge leap in logic.
"EPA!
EPA!
Trapped forever!
It's all come true…"
Over the years, fans and even some conspiracy
theorists have helped build the myth that
The Simpsons can predict the future.
But the show's writers have long made clear
that some of the weird or messed up things
in The Simpsons aren't mystical.
Back in 2010, Bill Oakley, an executive producer
on the show at the time, told The New York
Observer that the series' 9/11 connection
in the "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson"
episode is "a completely bizarre, strange
thing," but also acknowledged that the episode
was full of World Trade Center material.
That strange, so-called "prediction" was noticed
by fans who saw Lisa Simpson holding a guide
book on New York City featuring the price
of nine dollars next to a picture of the Twin
Towers.
Simpsons writer Al Jean told BBC's Radio 1
Newsbeat in 2019 that the 9/11 prediction
was "totally coincidental," and chalked up
things like the foreshadowing of Trump's election
to just having a smart bunch of writers who
read the news and tune into current events.
In the case of Trump, it was all about remembering
he had publicly expressed interest in running
for president before.
As Jean explained,
"If you make enough predictions, then 10 percent
will turn out to be right."
Writer Stephanie Gillis added,
"We are sort of futurologists in that we write
10 months ahead, so we're trying to guess
what is going to happen."
In a property packed with references to art,
literature, pop culture, politics, and science,
and one that's written by some of the smartest
people in Hollywood, maybe the only genuinely
predictable thing here is that people will
always read way too much into what The Simpsons
has done in the past.
"But my prediction says..."
"You couldn't predict 6:00 at 5:30!"
