Is it true that The Simpsons predicted the Olympics in Paris and the dollar worth 1000 rubles?

In August 2023, a new prediction from the creators of the popular animated series was widely circulated on the RuNet: supposedly 24 years ago they showed that the 2024 Summer Olympics would be held in the capital of France, and the Russian currency would sharply fall in price relative to the American one. We have checked this message for accuracy.

On August 14, posts like this began to circulate en masse on social networks: content: “In the 10th season of The Simpsons from 1999, they found a forecast for 2024: the Olympics will be held in Paris, and for a dollar they will give 1000 rubles. The forecast has begun to come true: the 2024 Summer Olympics will actually be held in France. [Chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Elvira] Nabiullina, your move.” At the same time, most publications have a short fragment of one of the episodes of the animated sitcom attached.

According to the TGStat service, at the time of writing this analysis, almost 700 similar posts had been posted on Telegram, with a total of 10.1 million views. Among the most popular channels that posted such posts are “Ax 18+"(2.4 million views), "Trash⚡️Ukraine" (1 million), "Dvach" (423,000), "Nexta Live"(299,000), TG Team Russia (260,000), "Mousetrap"(252,000), "KB"(242,000), Kosti (174,000), Yaplakal.com (137,000) and MDK (131,000). Publications about prediction are found in "VKontakte", for example in publics "Borsch" (136,000 views) and "ZSH"(81,000), in Twitter, and also on "Peekaboo" and media sites, including "Gazeta.ru", magazine Men Today, "Public news service" And "Komsomolskaya Pravda"

The viral video is the opening scene of the 20th episode of the 10th season of The Simpsons, which actually premiered took place in 1999. The series was called "The Old Man and the 'C' Student." The video is distributed in the voiceover with which the animated series was broadcast on Russian television. Although the translation was not always accurate, in this passage the meaning of all phrases corresponds to the original source.

The episode begins with a meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), at which the location of the next Olympic Games is chosen (the time of the holding was not specified, but in reality in 1999 considered application for the organization of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games). The representative of France said that Paris would be perfect for such an event, and after asking the chairman of the committee to explain the reasons, he threw a glass of wine in his face with the words: “I have nothing to talk about with types like you.” Then the Frenchman added: “I’m waiting for your answer,” after which he himself received wine in the face. At the end of the excerpt that spread across social networks, the word took Russian representative: “I recommend Moscow, where they give 7 rubles for an American dollar.” At this moment, he receives messages on his pager about changes in the exchange rate: “12 rubles. 60 rubles. 1000 rubles! It's time for me to run!

It turns out that in the video that went viral, it is never stated that the Olympics will take place in France - in the animated series, this country only claimed to host it. Along with the representative of Paris, behind the central podium there were delegates from Poland and another country (its name began with the Latin letters Be - it was probably Belarus, but later the same person wore a ribbon with the name in Ca), Russia, Mongolia, Argentina, Japan, Great Britain, etc. also put forward their candidacies. But all of them stopped IOC Chairman, who read a letter from Lisa Simpson. According to the girl, her city of Springfield is not suitable for hosting the Olympics, but she would like the torch with the Olympic flame to be carried there. However, the sports official said that the Games would take place there, although no one else agreed with his decision. Later, members of the IOC came to Springfield for an inspection, and students from a local school spoke to them. Finally on stage came out Bart Simpson, whose jokes offended representatives of other countries, and as a result the head of the IOC canceled the Olympics in Springfield. Midway through the episode Marge Simpson reportedthat the Games were moved to Shelbyville, another fictional city from the universe of the animated series.

The fact that the 2024 Summer Olympics will be held in Paris has become known in September 2017. However, the mention of this city in The Simpsons 18 years earlier is not unusual, given the listing of a number of other countries and the fact that at the beginning of the 20th century the capital of France was already twice was becoming venue of the Olympics, participated in the race for the 1992 Olympics and in December 1998 filed application for hosting the 2008 Olympics.

A video with references to the Olympics in The Simpsons. We are interested in fragments 0:05–3:04 and 5:09–5:57.

In 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, reports circulated across the Internet that The Simpsons had predicted COVID-19, although fact checkers found out, that there was little in common between the plot of the animated series and real events. At the same time, The Hollywood Reporter took interview with Bill Oakley - co-creator of that episode about the virus, who worked on the show from the 3rd to the 10th season. He said that he does not like it when his work is used for such “nefarious” purposes. According to Oakley, most often the authors of the animated series relied on events that had already happened: “There are very few cases when The Simpsons predicted something. Mostly these are mere coincidences because the episodes are so old that history repeats itself. Most of those episodes were based on events from the '60s, '70s or '80s that we knew about."

Apparently, the new prediction appeared on August 14, 2023 not by chance - on that day the dollar exchange rate got up above 101 rubles for the first time since March 2022. Apparently, someone decided to make a joke on this topic by adding an incorrect fact about the Paris Olympics from The Simpsons to their meme. At the same time, the authors of the animated series in their work simply ridiculed the fall in the ruble exchange rate in the 1990s, when the Russian currency could sharply become cheaper tenfold in a very short period of time.

Cover photo: screenshot of a still from the animated series

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

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