#Google cancels April Fools’ Day, again

If you were looking forward to Google’s April Fools’ Day landing page, the joke’s on you.

The search engine has confirmed that they are definitely not participating in an April Fools’ Day prank — for the second year in a row.

In a leaked internal memo, Google’s Marvin Chow, vice president of global marketing, told employees in March that they would “pause the jokes” out of respect for those who have suffered through the COVID-19 pandemic during this past year.

Google also passed up the tradition in 2020, as the coronavirus outbreak took hold globally.

“Throughout the past year, I have been so inspired by how helpful our products, programs and people have been during humanity’s toughest times,” said Chow 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.”

“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,” the message continued.

“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.),” Chow concluded.

Google confirmed the email’s content’s to Insider and The Verge on Tuesday.