Google Pulls April Fools’ Day Joke After Minion’s ‘Mic Drop’ GIFs Angers Gmail Users And Costs Some Their Jobs

April Fools’ Day comes around but once a year, and it often catches a lot of people in unsuspecting situations. Many big websites like to pull one and see if they can trick their readers and followers, but all of them aren’t always funny. Google’s Gmail pulled one this year with a Minion performing a mic drop to end conversations, but they’ve gotten a lot of backlash over it and have now pulled the joke.

The Guardian reported that the April Fools’ Day prank by Google wasn’t just bad, but it backfired on a lot of people. Some actually got very upset due to the fact that they believe they could have lost their jobs over the whole thing.

In the prank called “Gmail Mic Drop,” there was a unique version of the send button on Gmail that would attach a GIF of a Minion, from Despicable Me, dropping the mic and walking away.

The new “Minion Mic Drop” send option button was located immediately next to every single Gmail user’s regular send button. Even those who didn’t know about it could have accidentally hit it and used it at some point.

Google tried to make it seem like it was a new feature being added to Gmail, but then again, it is April Fools’ Day. Not only would the image of the Minion dropping the mic be added to the email thread, but it would also mute the rest of the conversation for anyone and everyone included in it.

On Gmail’s Help Forum, one user known as Allan Pashby posted that this little April Fools’ Day prank actually cost him his job. He posted asking for Google to give him a job.

“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 appears as if Google wasn’t entirely thinking of every possible outcome when they brought this little joke into existence. Once complaints like this kept rolling in from different Gmail users, Google decided to pull the plug on the mic drop.

The official Gmail Blog realized that this problem was spreading by the minute and they were doing nothing but angering more and more people. After the prank was pulled and the fake send button was take off of Gmail, an explanation was given.

Not an apology, but an explanation.

“UPDATE: Well, it looks like we pranked ourselves this year. 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.”

April Fools’ Day is the one day of the year that everyone should pay careful attention to what they read, see, and do on the internet. Numerous sites report something untrue and harmless in hopes that they can pull one over on their readers.

Then, there are sites like Google who alter their Gmail functions for as little as 24 hours, and unsuspecting users end up with major issues. Such was the case this year with the “Minion Mic Drop,” and that’s the reason Gmail has also pulled their April Fools’ Day prank after it was realized that it was a lot more trouble than it was worth.

[Image via Universal Pictures]