‘Simpsons’ didn’t predict queen’s death

Here’s a list of things "The Simpsons" didn’t predict, despite social media posts claiming the long-running Matt Groening cartoon series’ prescience: COVID-19, Tom Hanks catching COVID-19, Canada’s trucker convoy protest, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

It’s time to add another prediction to the list: Queen Elizabeth II’s death.   

A Sept. 15 Facebook post features two animated images of the queen, who died Sept. 8. The first shows her clasping her hands together while Homer Simpson looks on in a courtroom. The second shows her lying in a partially opened casket displaying the words "Elizabeth II 1926-2022." Interspersed with the cartoon images is what appears to be footage of the queen’s eldest son, King Charles III, walking in her funeral procession.

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Facebook posts

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The first image, of the queen and Homer, is authentic. A reverse image search brings up multiple stills from the 2003 episode in which Homer crashes a rental car into the queen’s carriage. It also surfaces news stories about the queen’s appearance on the show.

According to a Wiki page dedicated to "The Simpsons," Elizabeth has appeared in six episodes, none of which mention her death. We found no evidence elsewhere that she died on the show. 

This cartoon illustration of the queen in a casket appears to be an alteration of another Simpsonslike cartoon image of former President Donald Trump in a casket. As we noted in a prior fact-check, that image never appeared in "The Simpsons" either. 

As we did with the faux-Trump image, we rate the claim that the Simpsons predicted Elizabeth’s death Pants on Fire!