Microsoft threatens to resurrect Clippy as an Office emoji

Microsoft is threatening to bring back its annoying loveable Clippy character. The software giant claims it will replace the paperclip emoji in Microsoft Office with Clippy if the tweet below gets 20,000 likes. The tweet has already surpassed that number, so it seems Clippy could be about to return as a more innocent emoji — but Microsoft is being coy about what might happen next.

Born in Office 97, Clippy originally appeared as an assistant to offer help and tips for using Microsoft Office. You either loved or hated its Groucho eyebrows and persistence, and Microsoft eventually killed off Clippy in Office XP in 2001.

The famous paperclip nearly made a return a couple of years ago, though. Some Microsoft employees briefly resurrected Clippy as animated stickers in Microsoft Teams, but the company’s “brand police” swooped in to shut the effort down. It was a brutal firing of the anthropomorphic paperclip, but it looks like Microsoft has now realized humans like to have fun while they’re entering data into spreadsheets or creating a PowerPoint presentation.

So will we finally see Clippy return to Microsoft Office? Microsoft is currently holding Clippy hostage behind a tweet that already has more than 30,000 likes, so we’ll have to wait and see. As every YouTuber puts it, hit that like button Verge readers and we’ll find out what happens.

Update July 14th, 4:15PM ET: Added that Microsoft’s tweet has already surpassed 30,000 likes and that the company is being cagey about if it will follow through on its promise to make Clippy an emoji.