(RightWing.org) – On July 13, an X/Twitter influencer posted two images, purportedly from an episode of The Simpsons. The first still frame showed Trump giving a campaign speech, and the second showed him lying in a coffin. The user captioned the images by stating that this was the first time they had seen a Simpson’s prediction fail. The post went viral, amassing nearly 30 million views within a week. However, the platform quickly added a Community Note, advising that someone had “edited” the second image, which never appeared on The Simpsons.
On July 17, entertainment media company TMZ contacted “The Simpsons” executive producer Matt Selman about the viral post. Selman told the news outlet that he remained baffled that so many people thought the second image was authentic.
Selman told TMZ that anyone who thought The Simpsons would include that kind of “horrifying content on a family show” didn’t “really watch the show or have any understanding” of the animated series.
Sadly, this incident isn’t the first time someone has used that image of Trump in a coffin to spread a false rumor regarding his death. For instance, a Twitter user named Maddie posted the still image on August 11, 2020, along with the false claim that The Simpsons predicted Trump would die on August 27 that year. The platform’s Community Notes program didn’t exist then, but several users commented that the image was “fake.”
Back on Planet Earth, The Simpsons has featured the former president in several episodes and specials over its 35-year history. In March 2000, the program predicted the New York billionaire’s ascension to the White House during its “Bart to the Future” special.
Bart Simpson had a glimpse of his future as a DeVry Institute dropout in that program. He complained about being sick of hearing about his sister, Lisa, all the time “just because she’s doing a little bit better than me.” His mother, Marge, cuts him off, explaining that Lisa is the president.
The program later cuts to Lisa telling a group of reporters that she “inherited quite a budget crunch from President Trump.”
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