Google's April Fool’s joke

Google pulled its ‘mic drop’ April Fool’s joke after it allegedly lost people their jobs

Google has abruptly killed off one of its April Fool’s Day “jokes” after it caused outrage online, with multiple people claiming that it lost them their jobs.

The premise of the joke was simple. In Gmail, next to the standard “Reply” button, Google added a “Mic drop” button. Using it would reply to the email, archive it — and also add a GIF of a minion dropping a mic. “Email’s great, but sometimes you just wanna hit the eject button,” Google wrote in a joke-y blog post explaining its purpose. “Like those heated threads at work, when everyone’s wrong except you (obviously). Or those times when someone’s seeking group approval, but your opinion is the only one that matters (amirite?). Or maybe you just nailed it, and there’s nothing more to say (bam).”

However, the joke backfired — fast.

Its placement directly next to the default “Reply” button meant it was easy to click by accident, especially if a user didn’t understand what it was. Google’s product forums are full of furious users claiming they pressed the button by accident — often on important professional emails. 

Here’s how the “mic drop” GIF can look in a wildly inappropriate email:

One user, Abdus Salam, wrote that he had lost out on a potential job because of the GIF. “This mic drop is perhaps the most stupid thing you could possibly come up with. I have been interviewing with this company for 3 months now and mistakenly sent the email directly to guess who? The HR! Why would you do that? I so want this job; was due to start on Monday!”

Meanwhile, Allan 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.”

Of course, considering it is April Fool’s Day, it’s difficult to verify if all these stories are true. But even if some are made up, it’s pretty clear there’s anger over the joke. 

Google has now pulled the plug, removing the feature from Gmail. In a statement, a company spokesperson said: “Well, it looks like we pranked ourselves this year.