D’oh! ‘The Simpsons’ did not predict Canada’s trucker convoy

The writers of the long-running animated Fox comedy "The Simpsons" have uncannily predicted several things over the years – Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl halftime show, a "Game of Thrones" plot twist and Donald Trump’s presidency, to name a few.

Now, several videos posted on social media are falsely claiming the show predicted the so-called "Freedom Convoy" of truckers in Canada, who are protesting vaccine mandates and other government regulations.

A video shared widely on Facebook shows Homer Simpson driving a truck with his son, Bart. He says: "Look son. It’s one of nature's most beautiful sights…the convoy!" Their truck is then surrounded by several others. The video then shows Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau crawling out of his office window and down the building while screaming, "they’re coming in through the back door!"

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As fact checkers at Snopes and Reuters have previously reported, the video combines two separate clips from "The Simpsons" episodes 20 years apart to give the false impression that the show predicted the convoy and Trudeau fleeing his office to escape the protests.

It’s not clear if whoever created the video meant it as satire or to intentionally deceive others, but a person who shared the video on Facebook did not make any disclaimers. Caption for the video the Facebook user shared says: "The Simpsons even predicted the trucker convoy."

There is a similar, widely-viewed version of the video on YouTube that makes clear in its description that it’s pieced together from two episodes. 

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Here’s where the two video clips came from to create the video we are checking.

The first part of the clip, with Homer and Bart in the truck being surrounded by a convoy, is from the season 10, episode 17 episode called "Maximum Homerdrive" that first aired in 1999.

The clip involving Trudeau was from 2019’s "D’oh Canada," season 30, episode 21, where Trudeau meets with Lisa Simpson over Skype. He is standing on his hands to prove to her that he’s not "weak," after Lisa apologizes for comments Trump made about him.

She then tries to ask him about the "SNC-Lavalin scandal," and Trudeau nods to an aide, who then opens the window, and the prime minister, still walking on his hands, crawls out and down the building to escape. The actual episode does not have Trudeau screaming as he flees.

In real life, that SNC-Lavalin scandal was about accusations that Trudeau, or someone in his administration, tried to pressure the attorney general in a criminal case against a business.

A video shared on social media claims that "The Simpsons" predicted the Canadian trucker convoy and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s reaction.

That’s not the case. The video pieces together clips from two episodes that aired 20 years apart and adds audio to give a false impression.

We rate this claim False.