April Fool’s Undo: Gmail Removes Its ‘Mic Drop’ Feature

Gmail has decided that your co-workers probably don’t want to see a Minion in their inbox, after all.CreditIllumination Entertainment/Universal Pictures, via Associated Press

Gmail, a pioneer in the grand tradition of elaborate April Fool’s jokes, scrambled to undo its latest one after disgruntled users complained that they had accidentally sent photos of mic-dropping Minions, the little yellow creatures from the movie “Despicable Me,” to their business contacts.

The feature was called the Mic Drop, and it was billed as a way to have the last word in long email chains by sending a GIF of a regal-looking Minion character literally dropping a microphone.

“Simply reply to any email using the new ‘Send + Mic Drop’ button. Everyone will get your message, but that’s the last you’ll ever hear about it. Yes, even if folks try to respond, you won’t see it,” said a Gmail blog postabout the feature.

For some, the Mic Drop sounded like the perfect passive-aggressive office behavior. But this is April Fool’sDay, the worst day of the year and a fertile ground for hoaxes, which are so numerous that many news organizations are live-blogging them.

Many unsuspecting Gmail users were simply not in the mood for Minions. Since the Mic Drop button was placed a little too close to the Send button, users lamented their misfiring of the cartoon character when dealing with bosses and co-workers.

“Unfortunately some of my very intelligent friends are senior engineers in Google,” one incensed user named Yihsun Lin wrote in Gmail’s product forum. “I almost picked up the phone and shout at them because of this stupid creation made me sound so rude to one important customer when I made a mistake to click this stupid button.”

Another user named Connie Mitchell wrote: “If I wanted juvenile prank crap on my computer I would be on Facebook wasting time.” (Facebook, a high-traffic zone for Minions and the people who love them, does not appear to have released a prank this year. But the day is young.).

Usually, Gmail is beloved for its forays into office humor. In 2007, the service introduced Gmail Paper, which advertised print deliveries of a user’s inbox (“Allow 2-4 business days for a parcel to arrive via post.”) In 2011, there was Gmail Autopilot, which offered to analyze and reply to emails automatically, and even came with a special breakup function. And Gmail itself was launched on April 1, 2004.

This year, Gmail said in a statement that it had gone too far this time: “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.”