Fact Check: No, 'The Simpsons' didn't predict Coldplay kiss cam scandal
"The Simpsons" predicted a July 2025 scandal in which a kiss cam at a Coldplay concert allegedly caught a tech CEO cheating with the company's chief people officer.
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In July 2025, as the internet continued to react to "ColdplayGate," a scandal in which a tech CEO was allegedly caught cheating on a kiss cam during a Coldplay concert, claims that the long-running animated sitcom "The Simpsons" predicted the incident circulated online.
Users on social media platforms like TikTok, X (archived), Instagram (archived) and Facebook (archived) spread the rumor, with some pointing to specific episodes of the show that purportedly featured likenesses of former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and his alleged affair partner, Kristin Cabot, the company's chief people officer.
One post (archived) sharing the claim asked, "Is there anything in this world 'The Simpsons' hasn't predicted?" Some videos on YouTube featured a voice-over allegedly explaining the details of the episode in question.
Despite the popularity of the rumor, claims that "The Simpsons" predicted the events of "ColdplayGate" were false.
Most versions of the rumor alleged the prediction occurred in Season 28, Episode 10, "The Man Who Came to Be Dinner." The episode aired on Jan. 4, 2015, and featured the titular family getting abducted by aliens from an amusement park. The episode was available for viewing on the streaming service Disney+.
Other iterations of the claim alleged the moment occurred in an episode titled "Kiss Kiss," which did not exist (though there was a Season 17 episode called "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore").
Another episode, Season 17, Episode 22, "Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play," did feature a plot point in which Marge and Homer appeared on the kiss cam at a sporting event. The episode aired on May 21, 2006, and was also available to watch on Disney+.
However, a thorough viewing of the two authentic episodes in question revealed zero moments that could reasonably be classified as a prediction or a visual match for the alleged image circulating online.
Rather, it was likely that the alleged screenshot and video clips that circulated were digitally manipulated, either through generative artificial intelligence or a digital editing tool like Photoshop. The AI-detection platform Hive Moderation reported a 99.9% chance the image was created using AI.
(Hive Moderation)
Further, Mashable Middle East reported that "The Simpsons" showrunner Al Jean told them, "We write satire, not prophecy. Any similarity is pure luck." Snopes reached out to Jean's representative for comment and they directed us to the same statement, which other outlets also reported.
"The Simpsons" has become an internet darling for its apparent predictions of future events, though most of those predictions were either exaggerations or deliberate misrepresentations of events from the show. Snopes has debunked numerous claims about alleged predictions that appeared in "The Simpsons" over the years.
"Marge and Homer Turn a Couple Play." The Simpsons, directed by Bob Anderson, Season 17, Episode 22, 21 May 200AD.
Naik, Mamta. "Did the Simpsons Predict Coldplay's 'kiss Cam' Scandal? Here's the Truth." Mashable ME, 21 Jul. 2025, https://me.mashable.com/entertainment/58514/did-the-simpsons-predict-coldplays-kiss-cam-scandal-heres-the-truth.
"The Man Who Came to Be Dinner." The Simpsons, directed by David Silverman, Season 26, Episode 10, 4 Jan. 2015.
July 21, 2025: This article was updated to include a response from Al Jean's representative.
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