My Favorite Tufts Pop Culture References
It's always fun to catch when Tufts shows up in movies, TV, and pop culture. Sometimes it's an alum doing something big, sometimes it's a quick background cameo, and sometimes it's hiding in a word you already use. Here are some of my favorites.
Tracy Chapman at the 2024 Grammys
This is the one I like most. Tracy Chapman is a Tufts alum, and she started performing around campus and the Boston area as a student before "Fast Car" made her a star in 1988. At the 2024 Grammys, she performed "Fast Car" again with Luke Combs, whose cover had brought the song back in a big way. It was her first performance in years, she got a standing ovation, and her original 1988 recording topped the charts again afterward. She's also the first Black woman with a sole songwriting credit to top the country charts. Seeing a Tufts alum get a moment like that, decades later, is pretty cool.
Hank Azaria and Simpson House
Hank Azaria, who voices a lot of characters on "The Simpsons," is also a Tufts alum. He funded the renovation of one of our residence halls, which was then renamed "Simpson House" after his work on the show. He even donated a few original Simpsons animation cels to the building. So, we have a residence hall named after "The Simpsons" thanks to the guy who voices half of Springfield.
The word "Jumbo"
This one is a favorite because it's everywhere and most people have no idea. The word "jumbo," meaning very large, actually comes from Jumbo the elephant, who later became the Tufts mascot. Jumbo jets, jumbo shrimp, jumbo popcorn, all of it traces back to the same elephant that's on our sweatshirts. It doesn't explicitly say Tufts, but every time you say "jumbo" you're kind of making a Tufts reference.
A couple of smaller ones
The gate to the President's Lawn shows up in the opening credits of "Sabrina the Teenage Witch." The show never mentions Tufts, but part of our campus has been on TV for years. And in the old NBC show "Ed," a bowling alley employee named Kenny mentions he graduated from Tufts, which is easy to miss but fun if you catch it.
Why I like these
None of these are huge, headline references, and I think that's what makes them fun. Catching one feels like being in on a small inside scoop. Next time you're watching something, keep an eye out.