Did episode 12 of season 6 of The Simpsons predict the death of Hulk Hogan, as a viral TikTok video claimed? No, that's not true: That episode is titled "Homer The Great" and Hulk Hogan did not appear in it. The video contained several artifacts that point towards the use of artificial intelligence as well as a tiny caption that said "AI-Generated".
The video (archived here) appeared on TikTok on July 24, 2025, shortly after the news of the passing of Hulk Hogan (real name: ) broke. The transcript of the voice-over read:
The Simpsons predicted the death of Hulk Hogan in an episode aired in 2002 in season 6 episode 12, called "Wrestlemania Comes to Springfield". The town welcomes a major wrestling event headlined by a legendary figure, Hank Logan, a muscular blonde wrestler wearing a red bandana, yellow tights, and delivering an explosive catchphrase. Though the name is slightly altered, the reference is unmistakable. The mustache, the pose, the booming voice: it's clearly Hulk Hogan. The whole town goes wild. Bart starts dressing like him. Moe converts the bar into a makeshift wrestling ring and even Mr. Burns tries to sponsor him, but halfway through the episode things take a dark turn.
Hank is seen alone backstage, looking at old photos, and mumbling, "They turned on me." Later, he's shown meeting a shady character in a limo, a man in a suit with a blurred face and a briefcase. In the final act, a broadcast cuts to static. Then we see Kent Brockman somberly reporting from outside the Springfield Arena, a shocking revelation. Wrestling icon Hank Logan has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Officials deny foul play. But fans aren't buying it. The episode ends with a candle light vigil. Homer is crying, Bart hangs up his bandana, and Marge whispers, "He was larger than life." And now, he's gone. Comment WWE to see the part two.
And share this video before it disappears, too.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Jul 24 19:13:36 2025 UTC)
According to IMDB season 6, episode 12 of "The Simpsons" (archived here) is titled "Homer The Great" and it features Patrick Stewart as guest star. The plot synopsis reads:
Homer becomes a member of a mysterious organization called the Stonecutters and is heralded as "the chosen one".
It does not mention wrestling at all.
The video featured several artifacts typical of AI generated videos and a small caption near the bottom that literally said "AI-generated". Some of the oddities included the character Lisa having a pair of extra pupils in her eyes, the "Logan" character appearing twice in a scene (once in a coffin, once standing up), a bus where you can see the front and back at the same time and several weird misspellings.
(Image source: screenshots of details in video by @simpsonsnation55 on TikTok)
Simpsons predicted genre
"Simpsons predicted" is a sub-genre of online misinformation that has become much more prominent and popular with the rise of AI tools in recent years. Lead Stories wrote about several other examples of it here.
