Google Apologizes for April Fool's Joke After Minion 'Mic Drop' Prank in Gmail Backfires

Apr 02, 2016 10:59 AM EDT

Google takes down "Mic Drop" Prank in Gmail after it caused more headaches than laughs. The company releases an apology in their official blog for the complaints from its users. 

The internet firm admits that the prank backfires in a huge way. According to The Verge, Google says the feature shouldn't have been put near frequently used Gmail Buttons.  Google accepts the failure in making safeguards for the users to confirm the activity. The tech giant also admits about the bug of the feature. If a user clicked it within a new compose message without recipients, the GIF would still attach itself to that message after adding recipients and clicking the standard send button.

Moreover, Vanity Fair reported users did not realize what the button was for, and did not find the new feature humorous. After they negligently inserted the GIF into high-priority e-mails, users become furious to the prank.

"Thanks to Mic Drop I just lost my job," one user complained in a google forum. "I sent my articles to my boss and never heard back from her."

Anyhow, the prank is just simple: users would see a "Mic Drop" button next to the "Reply" button, where the usual "Send and Archive" button is. Pressing the button would make a reply and archive a response. The twist here is that the reply will also have a GIF of a Minion dropping a microphone.

The problem was not totally in its content, but in its execution. Regular users of Gmail's "Send and Archive" button are mostly the victims of this prank. Because the "Mic Drop" button replaces the "Send and Archive" button which is regularly used by these Gmail users.

Google already turned the feature off. The internet firm are truly sorry for the bad cause it made. According to their official blog, Google are now working to bring back Mic-Dropped messages that had consequent replies to users' inboxes. And also, Google shares what they have learned about the recent issue.

With that, Google might come to a realization to think twice about their upcoming pranks. April Fool's day can be fun, but it can also have some unintended consequences.