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April Fool’s Day Is Officially Canceled (At Least at Google)

Thank God

By Mar 27th, 2020, 4:36 pm

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Good news! Amid everything else going on you at least won’t have to deal with one website screwing with you on April 1st this year. Yes, friends, Google won’t be doing their usual April Fools pranks, according to an internal email. The company is hitting pause on the tradition out of respect for those fighting Covid-19.

The email, from Head of Marketing Lorraine Twohill, states: “We’ve already stopped any centralized April Fool’s efforts but realize there may be smaller projects within teams that we don’t know about.” She adds: “Please suss out those efforts and make sure your teams pause on any jokes they may have planned — internally or externally.”

This is a very good idea and we hope other organizations and outlets follow. As much fun as April Fools can be (I assume it is to someone’s there), this isn’t the year for it. We’re already dealing with a deluge of bad takes, fake news and contradictory information from news outlets. In fact, let’s extend that and maybe not have anyone doing pranks this year?

Yes, you might think that April Fools will be a harmless diversion that might make a few people laugh in these dark times, but not everyone appreciates being tricked into believing false stories this time of year. Honestly, most of us don’t like it any year, but this era of coronavirus isn’t the time for it.

But what can we do instead? There’s got to be something else available to mark the beginning of the month when things might hopefully start turning around? We can’t do April Schools day because, well, no school but maybe like, April Cools day? Hear me out on this.

Instead of using your time and energy to trick people, use it to be cool to them. Say thanks for being there, do an act of kindness for someone especially if they are one the frontlines of this. Give big tips to delivery people. Send presents and support to healthcare workers. Just use the day to thank and support the people that are getting us all through this. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Just don’t fake anyone out, and that could be cool too.

(Via: The Verge  Alastair Pike/AFP/Getty Images)

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Jessica Mason - Assistant Editor

Jessica Mason (she/her) is a writer based in Portland, Oregon with a focus on fandom, queer representation, and amazing women in film and television. She's a trained lawyer and opera singer as well as a mom and author.