Loyal viewers of The Simpsons believe the animated Fox comedy warned the world about the coronavirus decades ago.
As proof, they’re citing a 1993 episode of the animated series, which featured a storyline about a virus called Osaka Flu spreading through Springfield after residents ordered juicers from Japan.
The episode shows juicers being packed into boxes as one of the workers says, “Please don’t tell the supervisor I have the flu.” He then coughs into the box, sending the virus to the U.S. Once the fancy juicers arrive in Springfield, most of the residents fall ill.
Even though the virus in the episode came from Japan, instead of Wuhan in China, fans have been burning up Twitter saying The Simpsons has a penchant for predicting global events.
“The Simpsons has predicted it again! This episode aired 27 years ago in 1993.#CoronaVirus #Wuhan #CoronavirusOutbreak #Corona #Virus #ChinaCoronaVirus #ChinaVirus #WuhanVirus,” one person tweeted along with pictures from the episode.
Another person wrote: “The Simpsons scares me. This episode aired 27 years ago in 1993 #CoronaVirus.”
While a third tweeted: “How did the Simpsons know? #coronarvirus #coronavirus.”
As of Saturday, the death toll from coronavirus has climbed to 259 in China, the Associated Press reported. The number of confirmed cases there has risen to 11,791.
On Friday,the U.S. government declared a public health emergency and President Donald Trump signed an order prohibiting foreign nationals who visited China within the last 14 days, from entering the country. The restrictions don’t apply to immediate family of American citizens or U.S. residents.