February 25, 2022
The Simpsons predicted the Russia-Ukraine war years before it actually began.
Amid the growing attacks of Russian troops on the Ukrainian region, Twitter has found a resurfaced episode of the Simpsons from 1998.
In it, Homer accidentally fires a submarine captain into Russian waters during a military exercise, prompting troops to resurrect the Berlin Wall.
Simpsons showrunner, Al Jean, then opened up about the similarities.
“Very sad to say this was not hard to predict," he tweeted.
“I hate to say it, but I was born in 1961, so 30 years of my life were lived with the specter of the Soviet Union,” Jean later told Hollywood Reporter.
“So, to me, this is sadly more the norm than it is a prediction. We just figured things were going to go bad.”
He added: “Historical aggression never really goes away, and you have to be super vigilant. 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,” he concluded.