According to Esquire, July 2021 marked another milestone. With the Youtube video of the 1987 song “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley landing a benchmark one billion views, it’s safe to assume a noteworthy portion of those views were the result of a successful rickroll.
Rick Astley has accepted his fate, and he’s been pretty gracious about it. According to Today I Learned, Astley first learned about rickrolling when he was rickrolled by a friend. Over the years, he has embraced, been perplexed by, and simply come to accept the phenomenon.
In his own words (as quoted in Today I Learned), “There’s no getting away from it now….”
Astley appears to have last resurfaced on TikTok. He posted a rendition of his most famous (and only famous) song, perhaps accepting that he might as well stick to what he’s known for. Over 30 years since the song’s release and nearly 15 years since the meme first emerged, he has not, in fact, given it up.
