‘The Simpsons’ didn’t predict Pizzagate

It’s been six years since the advent of Pizzagate, a conspiracy theory that a pizzeria in Washington, D.C., was a front for a child sex ring run by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her campaign manager. 

But a recent Facebook post suggests that these purported crimes were predicted years earlier, by none other than "The Simpsons." 

"The Simpsons predicted Pizzagate," reads text over several images in a Nov. 16 Facebook reel. The images include four still photos from the long-running "Simpsons" television show and a photo of the sign outside Comet Ping Pong, the pizzeria at the conspiracy theory’s center.

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook.)

"Simpsons" fans: You didn’t miss an episode about Pizzagate.

The post shows a still photo from a 2011 episode in which Bart’s principal arranges for him to take a girl to a pizza arcade called Zip Zap and ’Za, which bears a sign that says "the kidnapping was at our other location," according to a Simpsons’ fan forum.  

Another image, showing someone holding an issue of BusinessWeek magazine with the cover story, "Cannibalism: The New Gold?," comes from another 2011 episode in which the Simpsons family convenes for Christmas 30 years into the future. 

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A third shows a joke at former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.’s expense, and the fourth shows a bit from a 1990 Halloween episode in which the Simpsons are abducted by aliens. Lisa presents what appears to be a book called "How to Cook Humans." The alien blows some dust off of it to reveal a title that says, "How to Cook For Humans." Lisa blows more dust and shows it says "How to Cook Forty Humans," before the alien blows off even more dust to reveal the full title: "How to Cook for Forty Humans." 

Pulling together disparate jokes from different episodes that aired in different years does not add up toa Simpsons prediction. We’ll add it to our canon of fact-checks debunking other things the show was supposedly prescient about, including Queen Elizabeth II’s death, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack, and COVID-19.

We rate claims that the Simpsons predicted Pizzagate Pants on Fire!