Today is April Fools’ Day, a.k.a. the Day of Lies.
Because The Washington Post is a newspaper, and news is the opposite of a lie, our writers have a tradition of dumping on the holiday, particularly on corporate marketing specialists who use the occasion to deceive their customers with fictitious announcements in the name of “humor.”
As a public service, we are debunking every brand- or celebrity-related April Fools’ prank we can find today in the hopes that no one is tricked against their will. Please read and commit to memory:
We are updating this list with more April Fools’ Day crimes as we learn of them.
correction
An earlier version of this article inaccurately conflated the University Musical Society with the University of Michigan’s musical department. They are separate entities, and neither has a terrifying AI chatbot named Cleffy.