Google is canceling its notorious April Fools’ Day pranks for the second year in a row

Google is canceling its April Fools’ Day pranks for the second year running because of the pandemic.

In an internal email to managers earlier in March seen by Insider, the search-engine giant said the company would “pause the jokes” in light of the hardship and disruption caused by COVID-19 over the past year.

The company’s April Fools’ Day pranks have historically been extremely elaborate affairs that have become the stuff of tech legend — including a spurious plan for a human settlement on Mars, a treasure-hunt option on Google Maps, and “Google Translate for Animals.” (Gmail itself was announced on April Fools’ Day in 2004, though not as a prank.)

But as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe in early 2020, Google decided to halt any pranks that year, Insider first reported, a move it has chosen to repeat.

“Throughout the past year, I have been so inspired by how helpful our products, programs and people have been during humanity’s toughest times,” Marvin Chow, Google’s vice president of global marketing, wrote to employees earlier this month in an email obtained by Insider. “We’ve done it with sensitivity and empathy, reflecting the range of challenging experiences so many are experiencing globally.”

He added: “As you will remember, last year we made the decision to pause our longstanding Google tradition of celebrating April Fools’ Day, out of respect for all those fighting COVID-19.

“With much of the world still grappling with serious challenges, we feel we should again pause the jokes for April Fools’ Day this year. Like we did last year, we should continue to find appropriate ways to bring moments of joy to our users throughout the year (e.g. Doodles, easter eggs, etc.).”

When reached for comment, a Google spokesperson shared a statement from Chow that reiterated his email to employees.

Some of Google’s past pranks have landed the company in hot water. In 2016, it added a “mic-drop” button to Gmail that inserted a GIF of a Minion character from the “Despicable Me” movie franchise into emails before sending them. Google hastily retracted the prank after numerous users complained of accidentally pressing it and including the comedic image in wildly inappropriate work emails.

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