The Simpsons has often been said to “predicted the future,” but even Matt Groening’s animated sitcom could not have predicted the attention the show is receiving thanks to former President Donald Trump. While The Simpsons clearly seemed to prophetize Trump’s rise to power, thanks to his Tuesday night outburst about dogs and cats being eaten in Spingfield, Ohio, the series is now trending on the back of many videos, memes, and a hilarious skit from star Hank Azaria.
Following the Trump/Harris debate, it took just minutes for the first images from The Simpsons to make their way onto X/Twitter, with pictures of the titular family’s pets Santa’s Little Helper and Snowball II looking very worried being posted alongside the caption of “They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the pets in Springfield.”
This was very swiftly followed by several musical variations on those same three sentences, many of them bass-pounding dance tracks with psychedelic videos depicting startled canines and felines. However, one that stuck out brought things back to Springfield’s first family once again, as Trump’s speech fits perfectly into the song “We Put the Spring in Springfield,”, which featured in the Season 8 episode “Bart After Dark,” and also won an Emmy back in 1997.
The Simpsons Star Hank Azaria Couldn’t Resist Bringing Out Chief Wiggum
As well as the endless stream of posts from regular social media users, The Simpsons star Hank Azaria also joined in by throwing out an impromptu video of himself performing a skit as one of the many characters he voices in the series, Chief Clancy Wiggum. In the video, Azaria answers a phone call in Wiggum’s voice, and handles a “report” that dogs and cats are being eaten on his watch. You can check out the video below.
While this brings another level to the reactions that have been dominating social media for the last few days, it has also ensured that these lines continue to be the single thing that has been taken away from the entire debate. The fact that the debate itself was broadcast on, among other places, Disney+, only further added fuel to the fire, with the streaming platform also being home to The Simpsons.
The serious matter of deciding the next leader of the country is still around two months away, and it seems that there will be plenty of time for that to take precedent in good time. For now, the strange combination of Trump and The Simpsons is very much all anyone has time for when speaking about the subject. Many comments on Azaria’s post have suggested that the show needs to make some kind of reference to this when it returns for Season 36 in the near future. It would certainly not be out of the question.
The Trump/Harris debate itself drew a massive viewership, with more than 67 million watching it across 17 networks broadcasting the event, which was much higher than the 51 million who tuned in for the same debate between Trump and Joe Biden back in June. This also did not include the viewers who chose to watch via Disney+ or Hulu.
