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Is 'The Simpsons' prophecy around Trump's death on August 27 real? Viral casket picture sparks wild rumors

'The Simpsons say Trump dies on August 27 Party time,' a user captioned the image, claiming that it had been taken from a Season 11 episode of the popular animated sitcom

'The Simpsons' has developed a sort of a reputation for the art of prophecy over the past few years, most famously predicting that Donald Trump would become the president of the country in an episode from Season 11 titled 'Bart to the Future.' But if some social media users are to be believed, the show also predicted that Trump would die on Thursday, August 27, 2020. The rumors first began swirling in the Twitter-sphere a fortnight ago when a user uploaded a picture of Trump lying in a casket that they claimed had been taken from an episode of the popular animated sitcom. "The Simpsons say Trump dies on August 27 Party time," they captioned the snap.

While the picture did not initially make any waves, as the fateful day approached, hundreds of users began sharing it and asked if there was any legitimacy behind it. "So my daughter said that on an episode of the Simpson's, Trump dies around Aug 27th?? Can anyone confirm that episode?" one user tweeted.

"The Simpsons predicted Donald Trump would die on august 27th and nobody told me?? gotta free up my schedule," a second wrote.

"Trump better watch his mf back August 27th is in 2 days just saying the Simpsons have been right so far," a third posted.

"In one of The Simpsons episodes it said that Trump would die today which is August 27th, just have to wait and see if it’s true or not," another shared.

However, others were quick to point out that the image purported to be from the show was fake and had only been made in the Simpsons' animation style to spread fake news. "The image of dead Trump is fake and was never on The Simpsons," one user wrote in reply to a tweet claiming the show had predicted the president's death on August 27.

"The picture is fake it never appeared in an actual Simpsons episode," a second user stressed. "And idfk where you got then 27th August date ik it’s meaningful but trumps death is irrelevant here. This just proves how naivè people believe in everything they see on media."

So, why August 27 in particular? Is there any significance to the date? The answer is no, and that the date was chosen by TikTok users at random to play a prank on their followers. While several have used the date in their videos, its virality can be traced to a user named stfusamantha who made a cryptic video where she told her followers they had "been chosen" and asked them to remember August 27th because "it's important."

That video, alongside the convenient emergence of the picture of Trump in a casket, created a perfect storm. It also helped that 'The Simpsons' has been disturbingly accurate when it has come to its predictions about the future. 

In the past few months, social media users have pointed out how the show had successfully predicted the White House lights out moment amid the height of George Floyd protests, as well as Tom Hanks going into isolation because of the coronavirus pandemic.