Don't Get Fooled: A Rolling List of Dumb April Fools' Pranks
It's April Fools' Day again, the worst day of the year to be on the Internet. Your Facebook friends are faking pregnancies, companies and celebrities are feebly trying to convince you they've got a sense of humor, and everything that sounds cool is probably just a lie.
I'd advise just coming down with "a sudden case of the flu" and going for a long walk, but if you're going to be here, you might as well know what's bullshit and what's not. Here's our rolling list of the best/worst pranks on the internet today, and the people falling for them—it'll be updated throughout this terrible, miserable holiday.
The Internet Companies
Digital Music News: Google pulls out of multi-billion-dollar Spotify acquisition.
Google was never going to buy Spotify. That was a prank planted a week ago by Digital Music News, specifically so they could run the followup today: "Google calling off 14.1 billion Spotify acquisition." Some people actually bought into this one, because it didn't arrive on April Fool's Day and it seems like a plausible enough move for Google in the same week that celebrity bizarro-world Spotify competitor Tidal launched.
Amazon is partying like it's April Fools' Day 1999.
This "prank" does not even attempt to fool anyone, it just adds an extra click before you can buy the shit you came for.
Marketing firm: New app uses vibration to make sure your phone always lands screen-up when you drop it.
Obviously, this app doesn't exist because of minor considerations like "the way physics works on Earth," but the New York
Observer fell for it pretty hard. It turned out to be a hoax by the marketing firm Boogie, resulting in this unfortunate editors' note:
Editor's Note: The Observer was a victim of the marketing firm Boogie's pre-April 1st viral stunt. The below story turns out not to be true, despite how awesome it would be had it been the case. However, it's worth noting that unlike several recent media stunts, this was not the product of overly credulous re-blogging. The Observer's reporter contacted the company and interviewed its supposed founder, Daniel O'Connor, who either lied or "stayed in character," but the net result is the same. We printed a story that turned out not to be true, and the Observer regrets the error.
Google's Inbox by Gmail has introduced a physical mailbox.
Nah.
Now there's Hulu for pets.
Featuring "Laser Pointer: The Series." Sadly not real, just a bunch of short clips.
North Koreans search Kim Jong-Un on PornHub, only last 2 minutes.
PornHub's report on North Korea has to be a prank, right? The top searches include "Kim Jong-Un," "Dennis Rodman"," "advanced warfare" and "destroy bush," and poor North Korean men only watch for 2 minutes—the world average is 9.
Oh, and it says "April Fool" in Korean at the bottom of the infographic. Very sly, PornHub.
Some sites were not so skeptical about these fake stats.
Bangkok is getting Uberboats.
Enter promo code HELPIDONTLIVEONAHILL (new and existing users – valid on April 1st, 2015 only!)"
Great joke by Uber on a city that historically suffers flash floods, and just got hit hard again last Tuesday. Excellent comedic timing.
The Celebrities
Sam Smith is straight.
This is dumb and no one is falling for it.
Guys I have some news... I'm straight
— SAM SMITH (@samsmithworld) April 1, 2015
Bachelor star Catherine Giudici is 17 weeks pregnant.
Nope, just an Instagram fakeout. My April Fools' joke is telling people I had heard of Catherine Giudici before today. She's the wife of Bachelor bachelor Sean Lowe, a person I was also definitely aware of before now.
Kathie Lee and Hoda pretended they were going to do their show totally naked.
Are @klgandhoda really doing a clothing free show?
Jokes on us! #AprilFools pic.twitter.com/Mq5kQ12jLA
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 1, 2015
Everyone Else
Adult Swim victimized all the innocent stoners out there by fucking with the picture during Aqua Teen Hunger Force last night.
They put a bunch of animated coins all over the screen with no explanation. When people started to complain on Twitter, they got trolled.
#CoinHunt @adultswim moonities are my favorite. pic.twitter.com/6IfimTvyf8
— noodle (@yournoodleface) April 1, 2015
Have you tried adjusting the tint? RT @ezamadi: @adultswim everything right now is trash and I need you to fix my television.
— [adult swim] (@adultswim) April 1, 2015
For any broadcast related issues please call 708-794-6386
— [adult swim] (@adultswim) April 1, 2015
For the record, Master Shake won the coin hunt—whatever that was—by a landslide.
Final Score for #CoinHunt! pic.twitter.com/AR5ejTRkqf
— Don East (@TheRealDonEast) April 1, 2015
Houghton College is building a "bio-dome" over its entire campus.
No it's not, and it was mean to get Pauly Shore's hopes up like that.
Hyperallergic: ISIS will show a floating "Art Destruction Pavilion" at the prestigious Venice Biennale.
Big, fake, art world news that plays on the Islamic State's actual destruction of cultural artifacts in Iraq.
Best line:
The watercraft arrived in Venice late Monday and attracted attention from Venetians when it began to endlessly play the 1982 song "Rock the Casbah" by the Clash throughout the day.
CERN researchers: The Force, as seen in Star Wars, is real.
Though four fundamental forces – the strong force, the weak force, the electromagnetic force and gravity – have been well documented and confirmed in experiments over the years, CERN announced today the first unequivocal evidence for the Force.
The farce is strong with this one.
New Zealand radio station tricks evening hosts into doing morning show at last minute.
It's a fantastic trainwreck.
Penguin Teen Australia announces sequel to John Green's The Fault in Our Stars.
Exciting news: @PenguinTeenAus will publish ebook by @johngreen. The story of Augustus Waters and Caroline Mathers pic.twitter.com/4TANKMqHAP
— PenguinTeenAus (@PenguinTeenAus) March 31, 2015
A lot of fans fell for this one, but it turned out Penguin was intentionally breaking their hearts.