All the major events The Simpsons correctly predicted in 2021

The Simpsons regularly stuns fans with its eerie ability to predict the future, with many events aired on the show panning out in real life.

Over the years, the iconic TV show has foreseen major world events – from Donald Trump‘s presidency to the discovery of a three-eyed mutant fish to the erection of London skyscraper The Shard.

And 2021 is no different, with the Matt Groening’s creation predicting big moments including Richard Branson‘s space flight and Kamala Harris‘ inauguration outfit.

With the year coming to a close, MailOnline takes a look back at some of the key moments The Simpsons prophesied over the past 12 months.

RICHARD BRANSON’S SPACE FLIGHT 

Images of Sir Richard Branson in spaceflight in a 2014 episode went viral in July after the businessman, 71, launched himself towards the stars.

The entrepreneur successfully earned his astronaut wings after travelling to the edge of space on board a Virgin Galactic flight, making him the first spaceflight founder to travel to space on his own ship.

Video of the magnate was beamed back to earth at the weekend as he experienced weightlessness and floated around the cabin of the vessel.

The footage was strangely similar to a scene in a 2014 episode of The Simpsons called The War of Art, the 15th episode of the show’s 25th series.

In the animated programme, art forger Klaus Ziegler tells Lisa his ‘forgeries give pleasure to people all over the world’ before people looking at art in various locations are shown.

One person enjoying the faked art is Richard who can be seen resting with his hands behind his head as he floats in his spaceship while looking at some art on the wall.

JOE BIDEN TAKING OVER FROM DONALD TRUMP AS PRESIDENT 

On January 20, 2021, Joe Biden, 79, was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, taking over from predecessor Donald Trump.

And while The Simpson’s didn’t directly state that Mr Biden would be president in a 2000 episode titled ‘Bart to the Future’, it did predict that Trump would one day be president and leave his successor with debt – with a grown-up Lisa taking on the role of president in the episode.

Indeed, a scene from the episode which sees her in a meeting in the Oval office, she says: ‘We inherited quite the budget crunch from President Trump.’

And when she asks Secretary Van Houten exactly how bad things are, he responds: ‘ ‘We’re broke’.

When Trump was elected 16 years later, writer Dan Greaney told the Hollywood Reporter: ‘It was a warning to America. That just seemed like the logical last stop before hitting bottom. It was pitched because it was consistent with the vision of America going insane.’

And creator Matt Groening told The Guardian: ‘We predicted that he would be president back in 2000 — but [Trump] was of course the most absurd placeholder joke name that we could think of at the time, and that’s still true. It’s beyond satire.’

KAMALA HARRIS’ INAUGURATION OUTFIT 

Meanwhile, in the same episode, The Simpsons appeared to predict Kamala Harris’s vice presidency, that’s to Lisa’s choice of outfit.

The 57-year-old attended the inauguration in a bright purple outfit by American designers Christopher John Rogers and Sergio Hudson, which she accessorised with a custom pearl necklace by Puerto Rican designer Wilfredo Rosado.

The ensemble bore a striking resemblance to one worn by Lisa Simpson the 2000 episode of the cartoon — in which a grown-up Lisa is President of the United States.

TOM HANKS HOSTING INUGURATION SPECIAL 

In sticking with the inauguration at the beginning of the year, the event was scaled back in the wake of concerns about the Capitol riots a few week prior  and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The low-key inauguration was boosted with a TV special hosted by non other than Hollywood actor Tom Hanks, 65. 

In a strange coincidence 2007’s The Simpson’s Movie saw Tom make a cameo appearance in which he gave a similar address after the Springfield residents were quarantined under a glass dome.

In a TV advert for a new Grand Canyon, he said: ‘The US government has lost its credibility, so it’s borrowing some of mine.’ 

CAPITOL U.S. RIOTS 

Similarly, the long-running programme may have also predicted  the U.S. Capitol Riots which occurred in January this year when a mob of Donald Trump supporters caused chaos as they sought to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential elections. 

Eerily, In the Treehouse of Horror XXXI episode, Homer sleeps through election day and doesn’t get to place his vote.

He later awakes to complete and utter chaos and mayhem on the streets in a strange prediction for the future, with Homer later seen on Inauguration Day in homemade body armour sitting on the roof of his house as Springfield burns around him.

THE OMNICRON VARIANT 

While it’s well known that the cartoon saw the global pandemic in the future thanks to the 1993 episode titled Marge In Chains about the Osaka Flu, could they have predicted the latest strain of the virus? 

The Omicron variant is currently rapidly spreading throughout the UK, with 210,122 cases reported as of Wednesday.

And suggestions that Matt Groening and co predicted this began after a fan pulled together a mix of news montages and a scene from Matt’s other show Futurama, in which an alien declares he is from the planet Omicron Persei 8.

Sharing the coincidence, one Twitter user posted alongside a clip from the episode: ‘Did anyone else think of this when they heard about the new ‘Omricon’ varient?