ALLEGEDLY*
THE MORGUECASE CLOSEDJuly 31, 2026
▶ PLAY THIS CASE BLIND Loads the redacted lede with the answer hidden. Three strikes, same as the day it ran.

Rick Astley and the rickroll, explained

Since 2007, this '80s crooner with the impossible baritone has been the unwitting engine of the internet's most wholesome prank — one of his songs deployed as a bait-and-switch billions of times, a fate he has handled with total grace.

The full story

'Rickrolling' turned Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' into the internet's favorite harmless prank. Astley embraced it — surprise-performing it at the 2008 Macy's Parade — and the video passed one billion YouTube views in 2021.

The clues we handed out

— He got in on the joke himself, popping out of a float to perform it live at the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

— When the video passed a billion YouTube views, he called the internet 'a wonderful and weird place.'

— The song is essentially a list of things he will never do to you.

— In 2023 he opened Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage, then drummed through an AC/DC cover for good measure.

— Initials: R.A.

How this case played

ALLEGEDLY* edition No. 6. Three strikes to name Rick Astley, with a free clue unlocked after every miss.

Where this comes from

Every case on this site is drawn from the public record. These are the records for this one.

npr.org

npr.org

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*A blind item you can check. Every puzzle is drawn from the public record — court records, official rulings, and moments that unfolded on live television — and the records are linked above. Allegedly.
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