[imagesource: Daily Dot]

Greta Thunberg enjoys a good ‘Rickroll’ from time to time.

While launching a global series of concerts highlighting climate change on Saturday, Thunberg belted out Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ in front of an unsuspecting audience.

‘Rickrolling’ is a bait-and-switch prank that usually involves posting a hyperlink that is supposedly relevant to the topic at hand in an online discussion.

Instead, the link redirects the viewer to the music video of the 1987 dance-pop single by English singer-songwriter Astley.

Thunberg began her speech normally before launching into the song with her fellow co-host, Fridays for Future’s Andreas Magnusson:

Her performance kicked off the global Climate Live event, which will be a series of concerts aimed at raising awareness and putting pressure on world leaders ahead of COP26 – the global climate summit in Glasgow in November, reports the BBC.

As shared on Climate Live’s official TikTok account, Thunberg is visibly happy with her now global troll.

The song was an opportunity to share a more playful side of her personality, one that the media does not typically portray:

‘At the end of the day, we are just teenagers fooling around with each other, not just the angry kids the media often portrays us as,’ said Thunberg.

Via NME, Rick Astley took to Twitter in full support of Thunberg’s performance, saying “Fantastic and Tack så mycket! Rick x”, which translates to “thanks so much.”

Thunberg is no stranger to trolling with a good old ‘Rickroll’.

For this year’s April Fool’s Day, Thunberg ‘Rickrolled’ her followers by posting a link to “a climate-related video”:

I made a video where I talk about some small things we ALL can and should do to stop the climate crisis.
We are in this together, and everyone is needed. YOU get to decide what future you’ll live in.
So please watch, share and start doing your part today!https://t.co/KDtgZQcgA7 pic.twitter.com/nCNn9rGMZb

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) April 1, 2021

But in among all the joking, Thunberg is still doing the hard work of trying to mobilise leaders into climate action.

Earlier this year, in reaction to the IPCC climate report, Thunberg took to Twitter to discuss the importance of swift action on climate change:

“The new IPCC report contains no real surprises. It confirms what we already know from thousands of previous studies and reports – that we are in an emergency. It’s a solid (but cautious) summary of the current best available science.”

“It doesn’t tell us what to do. It is up to us to be brave and take decisions based on the scientific evidence provided in these reports. We can still avoid the worst consequences, but not if we continue like today, and not without treating the crisis like a crisis.”

Even though it is a trolling kind of meme, I’d like to think that Thunberg means it when she sings “never gonna give you up, never gonna say goodbye” while referring to our planet.

[sources:nme&bbc]