The Simpsons EP Al Jean Compares Kamala Harris to Lisa Simpson’s Presidential Run

Consider us spooked! The Simpsons has told the future, once again.

The show’s longtime executive producer and writer Al Jean drew an eerie comparison between Vice President Kamala Harris, who is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee for the 2024 election, and famed brainiac Lisa Simpson.

On Sunday, July 21, President Joe Biden announced with a statement on social media that he was stepping down from the election and endorsing Harris for the Democratic ticket.

As expected, many people rushed to share their thoughts on the news, resulting in an interesting post from Jean. The producer posted a photo of the vice president and Lisa rocking similar outfits with the caption, “.@TheSimpsons ‘prediction’ I’m proud to be a part of.”

.@TheSimpsons “prediction” I’m proud to be a part of. pic.twitter.com/ZvkqotRpsn

— Al Jean (@AlJean) July 21, 2024

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

The photo references The Simpsons Season 11 Episode 17, “Bart to the Future,” which originally aired in March 2000, which sees Bart Simpson getting a glimpse into his future. When he does, he sees that 38-year-old Lisa has become the President of the United States while he scrapes by as a White House slacker.

Lisa addresses her constituents in a scene while wearing a purple suit with her signature pearl necklace — an outfit that Harris wore when she was sworn in as vice president in 2021.

Several people agreed with Jean’s observation. One person tweeted, “The Simpsons Prophecy remains intact,” while another noted, “So this is the tweet this afternoon that gets me all sniffly! Thank you for the catharsis, Mr. Jean!”

But here’s the thing: Conversations around The Simpsons predicting the future are often farfetched and ignore the fact that some people are just really attuned to the world around them. Although I have jokingly proclaimed show creator Matt Groening to be an oracle in the past, I don’t actually believe that to be the truth.

In fact, there are several Snopes articles debunking claims that the show has predicted major historical events, stating that vague similarities and social commentary on current events don’t necessarily equate to time travel.

Jean has echoed the sentiment several times, more recently in a 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter about a separate political event, the Russian-Ukraine conflict.

Jean spoke about the 1998 episode The Simpsons Season 9 Episode 19, “Simpson Tide,” in which Homer sparks political conflict between the United States and Russia and it is revealed that the Soviet Union never dissolved, leading the further political unrest, Jean said the “prediction” was a long time coming.

“In terms of predictions, there are two kinds we have: The trivial, like Don Mattingly getting in trouble for his hair in ‘Homer at the Bat,’” the producer told The Hollywood Reporter. “And then there are predictions like this. 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. So, to me, this is sadly more the norm than it is a prediction. We just figured things were going to go bad.”

He gave way to the show’s secret in the interview, adding, “There is the kind of prediction, where we reference something that has happened, happening again — we hope it wouldn’t, but sadly, it does.”

The Harris prediction, although less detrimental, has the same origins.

Sorry to be a buzzkill, but by that, I mean wearing a purple suit and pearls is a fairly common fashion trend. Notable figures Jackie Kennedy, Prince, and Elton John have donned the look — as well as Hilary Clinton, who has worn the combo several times throughout her political career.

When Clinton wore purple lapels while delivering her concession speech during the 2016 presidential election, Entertainment Tonight noted that several people speculated that it was to promote unity between the two political parties — whose respective colors are blue and red — or as a callback to the suffragette movement in the 1990s that saw advocates wearing purple to represent dignity.

What is most interesting about the comparison to “Bart to the Future” is that the same episode saw the show stating that Donald Trump was elected president prior to Lisa’s candidacy and that he created a political crisis that she was expected to resolve. Sound a bit familiar?

However, once again, several factors led to that “prediction,” with the most glaring one being that Trump was a candidate during the 2000 election and announced his run in 1999 — roughly five months before the episode premiered.

All said, it is rather uncanny that one episode has foreseen multiple moments in the current political sphere. Personally, I think this one deserves all the praise it is getting, and I am not even tempted to “but actually” those calling it a prediction. This one is lighthearted! And fun!

In the grand scheme of things, these predictions, which aren’t really predictions, as we’ve established, just further point to why the show has existed for so long in the zeitgeist. But as the show nears its 36th season, which premieres on September 26, let us just hope that it will come with a few positive predictions.

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The Simpsons Season 36 premieres on Sunday, September 26 at 8/7c on FOX.

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