Foo Fighters 'Rickroll' the Westboro Baptist Church

Herald online

23 Aug, 2015 10:45 PMQuick Read

Dave Grohl and colleagues are no strangers to arguments with the Westboro Baptist Church, known for staging protests against homosexuality at high-profile events. But at a Friday night concert in Kansas City, Missouri, at which members of the church were protesting the Foo Fighters' gig, the band got in the back of a pickup truck and cruised right up to the protesters, blasting Rick Astley's "Never Going to Give You Up," in a real-life take on the "rickrolling" Internet meme.

When the Westboro Baptist Church protested outside a Foo Fighters concert recently, Dave Grohl and the band responded with a Rickroll.

The Foos drove past the picketers holding homophobic signs, while blasting Rick Astley's 1987 hit Never Gonna Give You Up from the back of a truck.

Dave Grohl blew kisses to the protestors, while the band held signs reading "Keep it Clean" and "You Got Rick Roll'd Again".

Rickrolling is an internet meme in which people are fooled into clicking a link that leads to Astley's music video, when they were expecting something else.

The incident inspired the Westboro Baptist Church - known for their homophobic protests and parody pop videos - to respond with their own take on the Rickroll.

However, their clip has only been retweeted four times.

The Foos previously clashed with the controversial church in 2011, when they performed on the back of a truck in celebration of "man muffins" in order to rile protestors.

An extreme Christian fundamentalist group, the Westboro Church has drawn criticism for picketing the funerals of Aids victims, soldiers and high profile public figures.

- nzherald.co.nz