An image spreading on social media purports to show a clip from TV cartoon The Simpsons that shows Notre Dame Cathedral on fire, along with the claim that the episode is years old and hence the TV show “predicted” the actual fire that happened in 2019.
An example of such a post as it appeared on Twitter can be seen below.
While it is true that Notre Dame Cathedral did appear in an episode of The Simpsons (or rather, the Notre Dame de Springfield) it was never on fire, and images of the building on fire that are spreading on social media have been edited.
Notre Dame appears in the 2007 episode Husbands and Knives, and the screenshot of the building that has been used by this hoax shows the moment when Homer (who has had plastic surgery) carried Marge into Notre Dame only to be pursued by town-folk carrying fire and pitchforks.
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However at no point in the episode does the building catch fire. The appearance of the building catching fire has been digitally altered, as has the appearance of central character Mr. Burns who is seen standing in the forefront of the scene.
The real scene can be seen below.
While it is true that The Simpsons has made some coincidental “predictions” in its history, these are often embellished to make them appear more impressive than they really are. Others are simply just made up, like this one.
As such, the claim the The Simpsons predicted the Notre Dame Cathedral fire is rated false.
More misinformation about the Notre Dame fire can be seen here.