Best Celebrity April Fools' Pranks Of All Time (And A Really Controversial One From 2020)
These celebs really love pranking their fans on April Fools' Day... for better or for worse.
Getty Every year, April 1 rolls around, giving our favorite celebrities the chance to prank us ... and many people end up falling for it, even if they're totally aware of the date on the calendar.
Given the very serious events of the past several years, we all pretty much agreed to skip April Fool's Day the last few times around.
But that doesn't mean we can't look back on some of the best celebrity April Fool's pranks over the years ... including one from 2020 that didn't exactly go over well.
1. K-Pop star Jaejoong pretended to test positive for Covid-19.
Of course, Covid is no laughing matter, and this K-Pop star learned that lesson the hard way. On Wednesday, JYJ singer Jaejoong announced to his Instagram followers that he had been diagnosed with Covid-19, and as you can probably expect, his joke immediately backfired. Fans immediately showed their concern, and when he admitted he was just joking, that concern turned to anger — a lot of it.
He did ultimately issue an apology, claiming that he had only been trying to draw awareness to the seriousness of the virus, but let's just say that excuse fell on deaf ears.
2. Justin Bieber & Hailey Baldwin pretended to be expecting.
On April Fool's Day 2019, Bieber announced that he and wife Baldwin were expecting their first child together, including an ultrasound photo and a picture of Baldwin presumably at the OB's office, being examined. After the couple got backlash for joking about something so important, Bieber apologized in a follow up Instagram post, writing, "I didn’t at all mean to be insensitive to people who can’t have children.
A lot of people I know, their first go-to prank on April fools is telling their parents they are pregnant to get a big reaction. But I will apologize anyway and take responsibility and say sorry to people who were offended."
3. Mark Ruffalo released a fake Avengers trailer.
Last year, Ruffalo pretended to release a trailer for Avengers: Endgame on Twitter, but the video was actually a gif... and once it finished loading, the words "April Fools" flashed on the screen. Considering how highly-anticipated the movie was, it's no surprise that fans were definitely bummed out by this harmless prank.
4. Tom Brady announced he was retiring.
Long before he actually left the Patriots, NFL legend Tom Brady announced on Twitter that he would be retiring from football, instead spending his days tweeting. Not too many fans bought into this announcement, but less than a year later, it made major headlines when he shared that he would now be playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers instead — for real.
5. Dr. Phil pretended to shave.
On April Fool's Day 2019, Dr. Phil decided to shock his Twitter followers by doing something he'd never done before: Shaving off his iconic mustache. He even shared a photo of the before and after, where he truly looked like a different person but people instantly saw through the prank, realizing that the "after" shot was Photoshopped.
6. Gigi Hadid faked a dramatic haircut.
Gigi Hadid decided to shock her Instagram followers by sharing a photo of herself with a super short haircut, unlike any style she's ever worn before. It looked so real (and since this is Hadid we're talking about, she looked really good regardless), but it didn't take long before she shared that it was all just a prank. If she ever decides to go super-short, though, we already know she'd look just as amazing as always.
Hopefully, this time next year, pranks will be funny again. But for now... at least we can celebrate that March is over and April is here? Yep, that works.
Nicole Pomarico is an entertainment and lifestyle writer whose work has appeared in Cosmo, Us Weekly, Refinery29, and more.