Did 'The Simpsons' predict Trump's arrest and release of Barbie movie years ago?

"The Simpsons" has been known for its uncanny gift of making predictions about the future. From the horsemeat scandal to Donald Trump becoming the 45th president of the United States, the popular animated series has made several accurate predictions.

Now social media users have managed to dig up a Simpsons episode that apparently predicted the arrest of Trump. Trump became the first former American president in history to face criminal charges after his arrest on Wednesday.

He is facing a number of charges related to hush money payments paid to a porn star in 2016. His arrest became a spectacle on national television with social media users coming up with their own theories and views on the developments.

Some of them even managed to find a link between Trump, the upcoming film "Barbie," and "The Simpsons." Twitter user @heathen_king took to Twitter to share a screenshot from an episode from the series wherein newsreader Kent Brockman talks about the launch of the new Malibu Stacy doll before reporting that the president has been arrested.

The episode titled "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy" was aired on February 7, 1994. The connection left people dumbfounded as Trump's arrest coincided with the release of the trailer for the live-action "Barbie" movie starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.

"The Simpsons predicted Trumps arrest and Barbie same day.....my bet is one of them is a psychic, or working with one....there's no other reason how it could happen so often," tweeted a social media user. "Does anyone remember that episode of the Simpsons , where Trump was in the casket ??? I hope that doesn't come true!" wrote another.

"The Simpsons getting their predictions right yet again! Barbie and Donald Trump BOTH!" added another.

A used tweeted: "Def felt like I was in an episode of the Simpsons today when I slapped the news paper on the table and it was Trumps face with "arrested" across it." Another added: "Someone in the Simpsons writers room has to be a prophet because HOW."

This is definitely not the first time that "The Simpsons" made eerily accurate predictions about the future. Back in 2000, the animated series aired an episode in which Donald Trump became President of the United States. The episode became reality when Trump was elected president in 2016.

The show ran a storyline that dealt with the aftermath of a Donald Trump presidency. The scene shows President Lisa Simpson discussing the state of the economy, which "inherited quite a budget crunch from President Trump," 15 years before the billionaire even announced his intention to run as a Republican candidate.

Running on the theme of global economies, the cartoon in 2012 predicted that Greece would be put on eBay by Europe. This came three years before the Mediterranean country became the first developed nation to default on IMF debt.

In 2013, Britain was rocked by the horse-meat scandal, wherein food advertised as containing spicy beef had undeclared or improperly declared horse meat. In 1994, this was the norm for students at Springfield Elementary School, which showed that it was using horse meat for their school meals.

In 2007, the Simpson family was forced to go on the run as part of "The Simpsons Movie." As officials try to find the family, they are eventually caught by a huge team working at the NSA who had been listening into their conversations. This came six years before Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the scale of mass surveillance that the government was engaged in on the phone calls and emails of American citizens.

These eerie similarities between real life and "The Simpsons" have become the centre of conspiracy theories over the years. Some conspiracy theorists also claim the show predicted the Ebola outbreak, 9/11, and the war in Syria.