In 2007 Rick Astley became the subject of a viral Internet meme in which an estimated 13 million Internet users were tricked into watching the video for Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" by posting it under the name of other popular video titles. The practice is now known as Rickrolling. The phenomenon became so popular that on April 1st 2008, YouTube pranked the Internet community by making every single video link on the front page a Rickroll.
When asked by the Los Angeles Times for his opinion on Rickrolling, Astley said "I think it's just one of those odd things where something gets picked up and people run with it. That's what's brilliant about the Internet."
Astley said that he found the rickrolling of Scientology to be "hilarious"; he also said that he will not try to capitalize on the rickroll phenomenon with a new recording or remix of his own, but that he'd be happy to have other artists remix it.
Overall, Astley is fine with the phenomenon, although he finds it a little "bizarre" and only hopes that his daughter receives no embarrassment over it.
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