The Simpsons Predicted Elon Musk's Twitter Downfall Coming Years Ago
The Simpsons has been right about a lot of things: the Trump presidency, the Disney-Fox merger, even Olympic scandals. And now, fans think it might've nailed another one — Elon Musk losing Twitter (sorry, "X") in spectacular fashion.
In episode 4 of the show's 35th season — titled "Thirst Trap: A Corporate Love Story" — Mr. Burns gives a suspiciously Holmes-like Silicon Valley character (voiced by Elizabeth Banks) a "gift." Her guess? A Twitter gift card. His reply?
"No, I bought you Twitter, the whole company! It was a bargain. The previous owner had to sell it after his self-driving Mars rocket crashed into the international space station."
And just like that, The Simpsons writers managed to roast Musk, his space ambitions, and his Twitter/X acquisition in a single line — and weeks before actual chaos once again hit the platform.
Fans immediately latched onto the moment as a prophecy in the making. Not because anyone expects SpaceX to crash into the ISS, but because the idea of Musk being forced to give up control of the site formerly known as Twitter feels more plausible by the day. The show didn't name him outright, but they didn't have to — the shoe fits, and it's laced with rocket fuel.
Musk, for the record, once lent his own voice to The Simpsons, appearing as himself in the 2015 episode "The Musk Who Fell to Earth." That goodwill has clearly expired.
The whole thing aired October 29, 2023 — just as Musk was busy rebranding Twitter into a platform nobody asked for, bleeding advertisers, alienating users, and retrofitting the homepage into his own personal stage. That may explain why the joke struck a nerve.
Online reactions ranged from smug amusement to full-blown conspiracy:
- "They're planning on sabotaging one of Elon Musk's rockets to crash into the international space station & force him to sell X."
- "The Simpsons just predicted that the international space station will be destroyed by one of Elon's spaceships."
Even for a show that's been around since George H.W. Bush was in office, it's hard to ignore just how precise the timing is.
And while most Simpsons predictions never come true, it's not exactly far-fetched to imagine Musk's erratic reign over Twitter ending in a fireball of his own making.
No word yet on whether the next episode will predict what happens to a $44 billion acquisition after its value tanks, but at this rate, you could do worse than checking the Fox schedule.