No, The Simpsons Did Not Predict George Floyd's Death And The Aftermath

The Simpsons have been known to come up with episodes that seem to predict the future, including the election of Donald Trump as president.

But did The Simpsons creator Matt Groening and his team of writers predict George Floyd's death and the protests that followed afterwards?

Protests broke across several cities in the United States following the death of an African-American man, George Floyd, who died after being pinned to the ground by police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25, 2020. Footage shot by witnesses showed a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, with his knee on Floyd's neck for close to nine minutes as the latter stopped responding.

On 1 June, 2020 a bunch of images started doing the rounds on social media that made it seem as if the critically acclaimed show had accurately predicted the future again. The most popular image was of The Simpsons character Chief Clancy Wiggum, strangling a black man with his foot while Lisa Simpson has a 'Justice For George' protest placard. The claim is that it appeared in the series in the 1990s. 

There's also an image of what appears to be the police precinct in Minneapolis catching fire shown juxtaposed the Springfield police station catching fire. 

These images when put together seemed to indicate that animated series had accurately predicted police brutality case like George Floyds' and the aftermath that followed. 

Fact Check
A closer look at the image of Chief Wiggum and the black man shows an artist's signature at the bottom right side. 

BOOM looked for 'Yuri Pomo' on Twitter and Instagram, and it turns out Pomo is an artist who created this cartoon depicting police brutality on May 30, 2020 to raise awareness about George Floyd's death. It is not a scene from The Simpsons. 

There's an image of what appears to be the precinct in Minneapolis, Minnesota that was set on fire that's juxtaposed with the Springfield police station ablaze. The 3rd Precinct of the Minneapolis police station was set on fire to protest George Floyd's death. BOOM could not independently verify if the building in the photo was that of the Precinct.

The next image is taken from an episode of The Simpsons. A YouTube search for the keywords 'The Simpsons Springfield Police Station Catching Fire' led us to find this clip: 

Full View

This clip from The Simpsons season 11, episode 06, titled 'Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder.' The episode shows the Springfield police station on fire but is unrelated to a riot, or even a larger part of the episode. Homer is rushing to work and tries to take a few short cuts, so Chief officer Wiggum stops him and says 'Where's the fire?' to ask him what was the hurry in him driving rashly. Homer says, "Over there." and points to the Springfield police station on fire. There is no background of rioting or protests, and is, in fact, a short joke skit that The Simpsons is known for.