Viral Image Does Not Show ‘The Simpsons’ Predicting Baltimore Bridge Collapse

We did not find any versions of this image showing 'The Simpsons' predating the Baltimore bridge collapse.

An image showing a few characters from American animated show 'The Simpsons', standing on a boat and watching a ship, some boats, and a bridge collapsing has gone extremely viral on social media.

The claim: The image is being shared to claim that the show 'predicted' the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in USA's Baltimore, Maryland.

• Some users have shared the image claiming that it shows visuals from episode eight of season 35 of the show.

(Swipe to view two of the most viral posts.)

The image has gone viral across social media platforms, gathering millions of views and hundreds of reshares. Archives of some of these posts can be seen here, here, here, and here.

Is it true?: No. The episode specified in the claim does not carry these visuals.

• The image did not exist on the internet before 28 March 2024, whereas the bridge collapsed on 26 March 2024.

How did we find out?: We ran a reverse image search on the photo using several search engines.

• None of them showed us results that predated 28 March, which is unlikely if the screenshot was actually taken from the show.

• As some posts claimed that the visuals were taken from season 35's eighth episode, so we went through the whole episode on Hotstar.

• This episode involved the main family travelling to Scotland, but did not carry the visuals of a sinking ship or a collapsing bridge.

• Using a feature of Google's Fact-Check Explorer, we attempted to trace the first time that Google had recorded – or 'indexed' – the image.

• This, too, showed us that the image did not exist before 28 March 2024, two days after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in Baltimore.

Error in character design: We noticed that the image showed a discrepancy in the character design of Homer Simpson, the man seen in the viral photo.

• In the show, one can see that the zig-zag pattern denoting Homer's hair is much narrower in the claim than in the actual design.

• Additionally, the design of the character's ear is also different.

'The Simpsons' has often been linked to real-world news events, with people sharing screenshots from the show, claiming that the show 'predicts' events before they happen.

For instance, unrelated and edited visuals from the show were falsely linked to the OceanGate's Titan submersible's implosion, the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank, and the 2022 truckers' rally in Canada, protesting the country mandating the COVID-19 vaccine.

(Swipe to view claims.)

Baltimore bridge collapse: The Francis Scott Key bridge partially collapsed into the Patapsco river after Dali, a large freighter, crashed into it after losing power on 26 March 2024.

• All of the ship's crew, which included 22 Indians and two local pilots, escaped unharmed after the collision.

• Six people were presumed dead with several others injured. The Washington Post reported that rescue teams had found two bodies from a red truck as on 28 March 2024.

Conclusion: A fabricated image has gone viral with the false claim that 'The Simpsons' predicted the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland.

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