Google pulled its 'mic drop' April Fool's joke after it allegedly lost people 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:
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. ?? Due to a bug, the MicDrop 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."