Google Drops Ill-Advised ‘Mic Drop’ April Fool Joke From Gmail Following Complaints
Google has pulled its April Fools’ Day joke from its email service after it spectacularly backfired.
Gmail users were left fuming when a special version of the ‘send and archive’ button appeared on their email.
The button, which was used unintentionally by many Gmail users, added a gif of a minion - yes, the annoying little yellow characters from the kids films - pulling the famous ‘mic drop’ move at the end of the user’s message.
“Everyone will get your message, but that’s the last you’ll ever hear about it,” explained Google in a post announcing the jape. “Yes, even if folks try to respond, you won’t see it.”
A bug supposedly lead to people emailing the gif even when using the normal ‘send’ button.
One disgruntled Gmail user claims to have lost their job as a result of the badly thought-out prank.
Posting on a Google help forum, Alan Pashby wrote:
“Thanks to Mic Drop I just lost my job. I am a writer and had a deadline to meet. I sent my articles to my boss and never heard back from her. I inadvertently sent the email using the “Mic Drop” send button.
“There were corrections that needed to be made on my articles and I never received her replies. My boss took offense to the Mic Drop animation and assumed that I didn’t reply to her because I thought her input was petty (hence the Mic Drop). I just woke up to a very angry voicemail from her which is how I found out about this “hilarious” prank”.
It is of course possible, that the complaint itself is a April Fools’ Joke.
However, Google’s ill-advised joke was still a huge mistake, something that the company finally admitted when it pulled it just hours after launch.
“Well, it looks like we pranked ourselves this year. 😟,” said Google after pulling the lame joke. “Due to a bug, the Mic Drop feature inadvertently caused more headaches than laughs. We’re truly sorry. The feature has been turned off. If you are still seeing it, please reload your Gmail page”.
Image credit: Google/Universal Pictures
