The Simpsons predicted coronavirus and murder hornet swarms in 1993 episod

ill Oakley appeared to confirm the popular fan theories in a tweet this week, writing: “OK, fine I guess we did [predict 2020]".

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Oakley retweeted one fan who wrote: "S***, the Simpsons really did predict 2020", alongside a clip showing an invasion of killer bees hitting Springfield.

Fans had suggested the episode foretold the invasion of a similar insect this year after giant "murder hornets" arrived in the US.

The enormous bugs can sting through most beekeeper suits, deliver nearly seven times the amount of venom as a honey bee, and sting multiple times.

Simpsons enthusiasts previously claimed the long-running show predicted the coronavirus pandemic in the same 1993 episode.

PREDICTING THE FUTURE?

In the episode, everyone in Springfield is dying to get their hands on fancy blenders as juicing becomes a popular fad in the town.

One scene shows a factory worker in Japan coughing all over the blenders before they are shipped to the US.

The virus - called the Osaka Flu - then spreads throughout America.

But fans failed to note that the Osaka Flu fictionally originated in Japan, while Covid-19 spread from Wuhan, China.
 

Oakley previously described the claim the show predicted the disease as a “stretch”, saying the episode was based on other events that had already happened.

He said: “I don’t specifically remember which viruses had been in the news in the decade before we wrote it but there were probably a few.

"The story was assigned to us by the showrunners Mike Reiss and Al Jean and they told us to read ‘The Plague’ by Albert Camus which is what the entire first act is based on.

“I would say in general when people say The Simpsons has predicted something it is just that we were satirizing real life events from years before and because history keeps repeating it just SEEMS like we were predicting things”.

It's also proved eerily accurate at predicting major life events in the past - apparently foreseeing everything from Trump's presidency to 9/11.

The Simpsons correctly - and shockingly - foretold Donald Trump would be president in an episode aired way back in 2000, where Lisa refers to “inheriting quite a budget crunch from President Trump”.

The show even featured a scene where Trump was seen waving from the stairs - almost exactly mirroring a photo of him taken in 2015 in real life.

And asked by Radio 1 Newsbeat how they did it previously, writer Al Jean said: "With the Trump one in 2000 we were looking for a funny celebrity who would be president."