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Messina Jokes About Shutting Up Shop Early, Gets Sydney All Riled Up

Messina Should Never Joke About Gelato
Icecream cone on floor
Steen Larsen via Getty Images
Icecream cone on floor

Gelato Messina, take note: some lines should never be drawn.

Even on the punniest day of the year.

Messina toyed with gelato lovers on April 1 when it announced its Darlinghurst and Surry Hills stores would be shutting up shop at 7pm. The reason? “Ludicrous restrictions” resulting from Sydney’s controversial lock out laws.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, and for reasons associated with recent changes in the NSW State Government '...

Posted by Gelato Messina on Thursday, March 31, 2016

Unlike some of the practical jokes that have stormed the internet today, this one certainly got Sydneysiders all riled up. The post scored over 2,600 Likes on Facebook.

Two hours later, Messina confirmed the announcement was fake.

"Messina will remain open until the wholesome family friendly time of 10.30pm (and even 11pm on weekends) and delivery will run as normal! So naughty!" it wrote.

“Even though that was a joke, we wanted to highlight how ridiculous the lockout laws are... As a business that has nothing to do with alcohol-fulled violence, we too have inadvertently felt the effects of these reactionary, archaic and politicised lock out laws.”

The backlash came from far and wide:

“When April Fools goes too far,” said one Facebook user.

“Pretty poor April Fools joke guys -- please don’t bandwagon on the anti-lock-out campaign," said another.

"You owe me a tub of Messina."

Gelato Messina may be our humble go-to when we’re looking for a late night scoop, but they should know better than toying with our emotions.

Deliciousness is not a laughing matter.

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