In the 2000 episode “Bart to the Future,” The Simpsons created an image of Lisa Simpson becoming the first female president of the United States, succeeding Donald Trump for a term. This plot has led to speculation that the show may have predicted Kamala Harris’s potential as a female president, especially when she was elected the first female vice president in 2021. More interestingly, Lisa’s outfit in the episode — a purple suit with a pearl necklace — bears a striking resemblance to Harris’s inauguration outfit, fueling speculation about this “prediction.” However, the results of the 2024 US presidential election saw Donald Trump defeat Kamala Harris, according to a report in People magazine on November 6, 2024. This result went against the expectation that Kamala Harris would succeed Trump as president after his term, as many had inferred from the scenario in The Simpsons. Therefore, this “prediction” of the future did not come true as expected.

This case once again highlights the limits of interpreting fictional stories as accurate predictions of real-world events. While The Simpsons has simulated some scenarios that have subsequently occurred, such as Trump’s first term as president, not all scenarios match reality. The results of the 2024 election are a reminder that, despite coincidences, fictional content should still be viewed as entertainment rather than prophetic predictions.