In July 2023, Twitter owner Elon Musk announced that the social platform would be rebranding itself as "X." On July 24, 2023, a picture went viral allegedly depicting proof that the television show "The Simpsons" predicted it. The picture showed a smartphone screen of Homer Simpson's Twitter page with an icon at the bottom of it in the shape of an "X."
no way the simpsons predicted the X rebrand #RIPTwitter #TwitterX pic.twitter.com/PLRSU8Aods
— Redd (@ReddCinema) July 24, 2023
The picture in question was published in a Simpsons Wiki article regarding Twitter back in 2018 and originally it didn't show the X logo at the bottom of the smartphone. A reverse-image search revealed that two blogs also shared the unaltered version of the image in 2012 and 2014. The image was a screenshot from "The Simpsons" TV show, Episode 21of Season 23: "Ned 'N Edna's Blend."
(Simpsons Wiki)
The image was digitally edited and did not show a Twitter re-branded logo; therefore we rate the claim as "False."
We have debunked false claims about so-called "Simpsons predictions" many times over the years. In July 2023, we fact-checked a rumor that claimed the famous TV show predicted Meta's Threads logo. Moreover, in June 2023, social media users falsely claimed that the show predicted a five-person submersible going missing near the site of the Titanic. Another viral rumor we fact-checked said that "The Simpsons" featured a plot line about a run on a bank called the Silicon Valley Bank.