Claim: The monkeypox (mpox) outbreak was planned by the global elite as part of their agenda of depopulation. The outbreak was also predicted on the television show The Simpsons.
Rating: FALSE
Why we fact-checked this: The claim was made in a video posted by Instagram user “k0nsp1r4s1.gl0b4l,” which garnered 252 likes.
Instagram user “k0nsp1r4s1.gl0b4l” used a video originally posted on the Sumeks.co Instagram page on August 27, 2024, which gained 9,300 views. Sumeks.co is a free online version of Sumeks Morning Daily Newspaper from South Sumatera, Indonesia.
The video depicted some of The Simpsons characters with an illustrated newspaper and the text box “Monkeypox Virus Spreads! Apparently, it was predicted by the American cartoon series, The Simpsons.”
The Instagram user posted Sumeks.co’s video with the following caption:
“Tetap WASPADA apapun Bentuk Serangan Biological Weapon.. kawal kebijakan pemerintah,. kawal Menkes jangan sampai kelolosan lagi warga konoha dijadikan kelinci percobaan utk di fucksin yg berujung pada Kematian. ingat zaman COVID-19. tujuan elite global MEMBUNUH Manusia, Mengurangi jumlah populasi manusia (DEPOPULATION AGENDA) Bersembunyi dibalik Badan Kesehatan Dunia(WHO) sejatinya “PEMBUNUH BERDARAH DINGIN.” Tipu Daya Setan itu Nyata.. Banyak orang2 Awam BUTA Sama sekali akan hal ini dan menjadi korban kejahatan dunia kesehatan ulah kaum Dajjal NWO.”
(Stay ALERT of any form of Biological Weapon Attack.. control the policy of the government. Control Menkes (Ministry of Health) so that the citizens of Konoha (Indonesia) are made guinea pigs to fuckin that ends in death. Remember the COVID-19 era, the goal of the global elite is KILLING humans and reducing the number of human population (DEPOPULATION AGENDA). Hiding behind the World Health Organization (WHO) is actually “COLD BLOODED KILLERS.” Satanic power deception is real. Many people are BLIND at all about this and become victims of the health crimes committed by the Dajjal New World Order).
This caption is not in the original post by Sumeks.co.
The facts: There is no proof that the mpox outbreak was “planned”; it’s a conspiracy theory that has been debunked. The claim that The Simpsons predicted mpox has been circulating since 2022 and recently resurfaced after the WHO declared mpox a global public health emergency in August 2024.
Google image search shows that similar videos, images, and claims have been circulated by other platform users in languages such as English, Hungarian, and Spanish. Accounts that disseminate this story typically post more conspiracy-related items, including those about the supposed New World Order and depopulation program.
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No prediction: According to Reuters, the mpox outbreak “prediction” on The Simpsons has been circulating on Facebook among Spanish-speaking users since at least May 2022.
Fans frequently talk about The Simpsons as though the program could “predict” world events, such as the COVID-19 outbreak, Freedom Convoys conducted by Canadian truck drivers, or Apple’s Vision Pro.
The 53-second clip shown in the misleading Instagram post was never aired on any of The Simpsons series. The start of the video, which features a picture of Homer Simpson with a red rash, is from the third episode in Season 17, “Milhouse of Sand and Fog,” in which Homer contracts chickenpox when his daughter Maggie catches it. – Rappler.com
Artika Farmita is a journalist and fact-checker for Tempo.co (https://cekfakta.tempo.co/), based in Surabaya, Indonesia. She is one of Rappler’s #FactsMatter Fellows for 2024.
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