Over the 36 seasons it’s been on air, The Simpsons has made innumerable references to pop culture – but what happens when pop culture returns the favour?
That’s what seems to have happened this week, when HBO’s satirical hit The White Lotus seemingly dropped a subtle nod to The Simpsons into its latest episode.
The Simpsons had previously parodied The White Lotus in the 2024 episode “The Yellow Lotus”, which saw the Simpson family travel to a luxury resort where they meet the villainous Sideshow Bob (Kelsey Grammer).
In the episode, Marge can be seen lounging poolside, reading a copy of My Name Is Barbra, the 2023 memoir by Barbra Streisand.
The latest episode of The White Lotus, meanwhile, includes a sequence in which Michelle Monaghan can be seen reading exactly that book.
The reference was spotted by longtime Simpsons showrunner Al Jean, who shared a side-by-side comparison of the two shows on X/Twitter.
“To understand the brilliant White Lotus season 3 you must first visit the yellow lotus,” wrote Jean.
He followed this with the hashtag “simpsonsprediction”, a reference to the show’s supposed penchant for anticipating real-world events.
The latest episode of The White Lotus has also provoked discussion with its continuation of the incest plotline involving brothers Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Lochlan (Sam Nivola).
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Speaking to Vanity Fair about the scene, Nivola said: “It was f***ing insane. I had never even kissed anyone on camera, let alone done a sex scene. So that whole thing was really scary.
“I was on the phone with Patrick when we both knew we got the roles, and we were talking to each other about how we were going to play it. He said the scene where Chloe says to Saxon ‘Your brother jerked you off last night’ was in one of his audition sides. And I was like, ‘What the f***? What?’”
Nivola’s father Alessandro, an actor best known for his roles in The Brutalist, Face/Off and Goal, also responded to the scene, writing on X/Twitter: “Hahaha. I hadn’t heard this @SamNivola.”
The White Lotus airs on HBO Max in the US and can be streamed on Sky or NOW in the UK.
