NEW YORK (AP) — Google is acknowledging that it pranked itself after an April Fools' Day Gmail tweak angered some people who use Google's email for work.

The company added a button to its email service that allowed users to fire out a minion GIF, a character from the animated film "Despicable Me," which would drop a microphone and then mute responses to whatever email the user had sent.

In this June 22, 2013 file photo, Steve Carell, right, a cast member in "Despicable Me 2," competes for attention on the carpet with a minion character from the film in Universal City, Calif. (Image source: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

The Gmail Help Forum on Thursday was soon populated by angry users who say they unintentionally attached a minion dropping a mic during important business communications.

Google Inc. apologized and turned off the feature, saying that due to a bug, the mic drop "inadvertently caused more headaches than laughs."