Simpsons writer admits that Ukraine-Russia conflict was 'not hard to predict'

The Simpsons has had an incredible knack for predicting the future over the years, and fans online are claiming that the show saw the Russian invasion of Ukraine coming in March 1998.

However, a writer on the hugely influential comedy has admitted that, sadly, the conflict was not hard to predict.

The episode in question is titled “Simpson Tide” from season 9 and aired in 1998, and it shows Homer Simpson accidentally firing the captain of a submarine into Russian waters after joining the US Navy.

The plot also sees troops and tanks roll into the streets and the Berlin Wall being resurrected as it’s revealed the Soviet Union had never really been dissolved.

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Speaking about the resurfaced clip, Al Jean said that the show’s habit of “predicting” events is “sadly more the norm than it is the prediction”.

He told The Hollywood Reporter: “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. 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 spectre of the Soviet Union. So, to me, this is sadly more the norm than it is the prediction. We just figured things were going to go bad.”

Jean went on to say: “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 US-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.”

“There is the kind of prediction, where we reference something that has happened, happening again — we hope it wouldn’t, but sadly, it does.”

It comes after Russian armoured vehicles travelled over the border force checkpoints on Thursday morning.

Radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has exceeded control levels after Russian troops took control of the area, Ukraine has said.

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