The computer programmer still has no idea when the prank was originally created.
A California man never could have predicted what awaited him after he purchased a random VHS tape labeled "a surprise" from his local thrift store.
The tape bought by Foone Turing, 33, was also adorned with a creepy smiley face. The computer programmer had no idea what was on the tape or what it could be, but he was curious about the mystery.
He said the smiley face and the cryptic title caught his attention among other items in the thrift store.
"I threw it in the bag of stuff I was buying just to see what it was," he told Inside Edition.
When he got home, he recorded himself sticking the tape into a VCR.
At first, the video showed only static. Suddenly, the music video to Rick Astley’s 1987 hit, “Never Gonna Give You Up,” started playing.
Whoever originally had the tape appeared to have created it as a prank intended to “Rick Roll” the buyer.
"Rick Rolling" is the act of persuading someone to watch an enticing clip only to be shown the "Never Gonna Give You Up" video instead.
"I was just shocked,” he said. “I had seen this joke been done before like 10 years ago on the internet. I never expected someone to do this in an analog form."
Turing still has the tape, despite showing the world he threw it in the trash in his now infamous viral video.
He called it “a very good joke," adding, "I don't know when this was done.
"This could've been done some time in the last 10 years, so this is kind of a long con for the joke."
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