Everyone plays way too much. Today is the first of the month, and it is also widely regarded as April Fools’ Day. We will share the silly holiday’s origin and some of our favorite celebrityApril Fool’s Day pranks.
There are similar holidays in ancient Rome and Britain, but the eldest historical reference comes from a Flemish poem written in 1561. According to a history of the holiday written by Stephen Wince of the Library of Congress’ American Folklife Center, one nobleman sends his servant on “fool’s errands” on April 1.
According to History.com, some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. In the Julian Calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1. People who didn’t get the news in time or failed to acknowledge the new start of the new year became the butt of jokes and consequently called, “April fools.”
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Some pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.
The Catholic Church is also credited for making April Fools’ Day a thing. The religion celebrated a carnival-like “Feast of Fools,” originally held in medieval France and England on Jan. 1. It was practiced but was banned by the 15th century, but the holiday still continued for hundreds of years.
By the 19th century, April Fools’ Day become a mainstay of American culture. So much that celebrities and fans alike celebrate with pregnancy pranks and unlikely changes for the sake of jokes and laughter.
In the spirit of the virtually silly holiday, check out a list of our favorite celebrity pranks on April Fools’ Day below.
1. Lil Nas X
Our favorite Internet troll and the biggest prankster of them all is Lil Nas X. The young artist doesn’t need a made up holiday to make up an elaborate story on social media, but today makes it especially fun. Lil Nas X announces the Montero Deluxe album featuring a laundry list of celebrities. His tweet made “featuring Rihanna” trend because no one could believe he was able to obtain a verse from the Fenty queen.
Don’t play with our emotions like this!
2. Michael Strahan
Last year, Michael Strahan fooled everyone when he pretended to close his signature front gap teeth. Fans were distraught in the comments saying that he was supposed to be the gap teeth advocate and they have no one to look up to anymore.
The Good Morning America co-anchor eventually confessed to the prank, but only after countless people believed it. “C’mon man! The gap is here to stay, for a little while. Not going anywhere anytime soon,” Michael said, all smiles, when revealing his big lie in a video.
3. Rihanna
Speaking of our favorite bad gal, Rihanna played the ultimate prank on Jimmy Kimmel.She made a secret 1:00 a.m. visit to talk show host Jimmy Kimmel‘s house to wake him up and prank him with a private concert in 2015. She brought a mini light kit, made it rain money over his barely awake body, and jumped up and down on his bed! The songstress revealed that she came up with the epic prank herself.
4. Sam Smith
Openly gay singer Sam Smith decided to play a prank on their Twitter followers back in 2015. Smith tweeted, “Guys…I have some news. I’m straight.”
Smith only allowed the tweet to sit their briefly before hopping back online to wish everyone a very Happy April Fools’ Day! The artist is very sure of his sexuality, since coming out as non-binary and using the pronouns they/them.
Got eeeem! Nick Cannon played the ultimate prank on Kevin Hart last September, and it wasn’t even April Fools’ Day. The jokester put his entire face on the side of Kevin Hart’s private jet to promote his talk show. The two have an ongoing prank war.
