The Simpsons have predicted many things over the years, from the rise of Donald Trump to the winner of the outcome of the men's Winter Olympics curling final.
Now, there is something of a conspiracy theory brewing online that they might have historically pulled off their biggest prediction completely under the radar - specifically, that Michael Jackson faked his own death.
Longtime fans will not be surprised to hear that this one harks back to the classic episode 'Stark Raving Dad', where Homer makes the acquaintance of a man who claims to be Michael Jackson, only to be embarrassed in front of the whole town when he learns that this was a bit of a fib. Whoops.
Advert
Amid the fallout, a newspaper lands on the family's doormat with the headline 'Michael Jackson HOAX - everyone mad at local boy'. Innocuous enough, but a paucity of evidence has never stopped a good conspiracy, and MJ fans have been quick to chime in with their theories.
"It was most likely a clue of the death hoax Michael Jackson was going to have," said Michael Turegano, who has been investigating the death of Michael Jackson for the last eight years on an independent basis.
He told the Daily Star: "Michael wanted to leave everything behind and get away. The Simpsons series knows many things that will happen in the future. They gave this message knowingly."
In the episode itself, Homer wears a pink shirt to work, is taken for a dangerous subversive and finds himself committed to a psychiatric hospital.
Advert
There, he meets a large, bald man who insists that he is Michael Jackson - 'the big white guy who thinks he's the little black guy' as the episode has it - and befriends him. Homer, ever the pop culture connoisseur, appears oblivious to the real MJ's work.
When the pair are released, rumours gather pace that the self-styled King of Pop is in Springfield and the whole town is excited to meet him - only to turn angry when they realise that the man is, in fact, patently not who they were expecting.
Still, Bart enlists the man to help write a birthday song for Lisa and it turns out that he has real musical talent - though at the episode's conclusion he confesses that his real identity is Leon Kompowsky from New Jersey (though Jackson himself did actually voice the character).
Advert
One YouTube video which shares the 'death hoax' theory bears a comment that has fully drank the Kool Aid, with the user writing: "I always thought that that was a strange part of that episode.
"Yeah, the episode is old but The Simpsons has been known to predict future events quite a few times. Who's to say that Michael wasn't planning on doing the death hoax for many many years and decided that because The Simpsons had predicted events it would be the perfect place to hide a clue."
"I reckon he'd been planning it for at least 20 years before he 'died'."
Yeah... and Moe secretly reads to homeless people on Wednesday nights...
Featured Image Credit: PA / 20th Century FoxTopics: TV and Film, Celebrity, Music, Michael Jackson, Weird