Fact Check: Did The Simpsons predict Bank of America's latest outage? Viral tweet debunked

Several Bank of America (BoA) customers across the United States reported having trouble accessing their accounts on Wednesday, October 2, 2024. Reports of outages peaked around 1:00 pm ET with over 20,000 complaints. Some even said that they were seeing incorrect account balances or balances of $0.

In a statement made to CNN later in the day, the bank acknowledged the issue, adding:

"Some clients are experiencing an issue accessing their accounts and balance information today. These issues are being addressed and have largely been resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience."

While it remains unclear what caused the disruption, X user @realMrTruthBomb shared a tweet claiming that the animated sitcom The Simpsons predicted BoA's collapse. Sharing an alleged clip from the episode, the user wrote:

"The Simpsons predicted the Bank of America would collpase. Was this predictive programming?"

However, upon research, one can verify that the clip was altered. In the original episode, the bank was named "First Bank of Springfield." Thus, The Simpsons did not predict Wednesday's outage, and any such claims are false.

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This is not the first time rumors of Simpsons predicting the Bank of America outage spread

Per a report by the Times of India, the recent outage primarily occurred to customers attempting to use Bank of America's mobile app or website. Patrons complained that their accounts showed the previous day's balance. Additionally, some couldn't view their balances or transactions.

Comments seen on Downdetector.com (a website that provides real-time status of various websites and services) indicated that some faced issues using their credit or debit cards. Others commented that they couldn't transfer money between accounts.

The clip shared by X user @realMrTruthBomb is taken from an April 1995 episode of The Simpson titled "The PTA Disbands." It features Bart Simpson walking into First Bank of Springfield and making comments to cause chaos.

In a disguised voice, Bart says, "What do you mean the bank is out of money?" "Insolvent?" and "You only have enough cash for the next three customers?" As a result, patrons panic and rush to the bankers as the manager remarks, "I don't have your money."

However, in the clip shared on X, the building reads Bank of America instead of First Bank of Springfield.

This is not the first time the fabricated video has gone viral. In January 2023, Bank of America patrons faced a similar outage. Anytime a customer made a transaction through Zelle, a digital payment app partly owned by BoA, it disappeared or their account showed a $0 balance.

While the financial institute soon resolved the issue, Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts took to her X to call out the bank and Zelle for "failing customers again."

At the time, a Facebook post by user Sign Olie featured the altered clip with the caption:

"The Simpsons did it again (skull emoji)."

Meta later flagged the post in an effort to stop the misinformation. It now displays the message, "Altered video. Reviewed by third-party fact-checkers," before playing it.

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It remains unclear whether the Bank of America outage issue is completely resolved.