The last thing we expected was to get Rickrolled in the middle of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. But just when we thought we were going to be forced to listen to another minute of the Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends float’s musical number, Rick himself rolled the day.

Looking much older, and much less red, than he did 21 years ago, Rick Astley broke into what I was told by the kids was a very bad impression of Bloo, anyway, and started singing his singular huge 80s hit “Never Gonna Give You Up.” I laughed loudly and every kid in the room turned and looked at me to explain what just happened.

When the song finished, one of the Foster’s character puppets exclaimed “I like Rickrolling!”

So do I, strange little puppet guy, so do I.

Due to the popularity and appreciation of the internet phenomenon known as Rickrolling, Rick Astley, who has long since retired from the music business, was publically voted Best Act Ever at the MTV Europe Awards earlier this month. MTV didn’t take it seriously, and Astley, as usual, took it with humor.

In November 2008, Rick Astley was nominated for Best Act Ever at the MTV Europe Music Awards after the online nomination form was flooded with votes. The push to make Astley the winner of the award continued after the announcement, as well as efforts to encourage MTV to personally invite Astley to the awards ceremony. On October 10, Astley’s website confirmed that an invitation to the awards had been received.

On November 6, 2008, just hours before the ceremony was due to air, it was reported that MTV Europe did not want to give Astley the award at the ceremony, instead wanting to present it at a later date. However, during the actual show the presentation of the Best Act Ever category was treated as a joke, lacking the pre-announcement video montage other categories had. Many fans who voted for Rick objected to this treatment by MTV, and felt the awards ceremony failed to acknowledge him as a legitimate artist. Astley himself stated in an interview that he felt the award was ‘daft’, but noted that he thought that “MTV were thoroughly rickrolled”, and went on to thank everyone who voted for him.

[From Rickrolling Wikipedia]

Rickrolling is an internet phenomenon where someone tricks another net user into clicking on a link they think will take them to something they’re interested in, a movie trailer, a game preview, an article, etc, but actually takes you to the classic 1987 music video of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” I’ve been Rickroll’d once and it was the highlight of my afternoon.

After scene after scene of Disney girls “singing” on parade floats, being roll’d by Rick, himself, at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was certainly the highlight of there, too. The only thing that would have made it any better would have been that wicked tan trench coat.