Internet trolls force choirmaster to give up 75-hour Rick Astley marathon

Jack White was raising money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

A 23-year-old choirmaster from Southampton gave up his attempt at an interactive, 75-hour listening spree of Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ on Friday (October 16) after internet trolls forced him to quit.

Jack White’s attempt at 1,274 repeat listens of the song was part of a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

The song was selected by the public for White after they were tasked with finding the most annoying song possible. Runners up in the contest were Frozen song ‘Let It Go and Eduard Khil’s ‘Trololo’. Foo Fighters recently used the song to troll the Westboro Baptist Church.

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Rules of the challenge included that White could not speak, read a book, browse the internet or even have a bath for four days. He was to begin the task at midday on Friday, and end it at 3pm on Monday, October 19.

White interrupted his listening marathon after eight hours because of abusive internet trolls levelling abuse at him and his seven-year-old nephew, who suffers from Type 1 diabetes, on his live Youtube page.

Jack’s brother James has taken over the challenge – he is now in the live stream below:

In a Facebook video, White made a statement about why he had stopped the stunt.

“The comments that flooded the live stream were some of the most difficult, offensive and rude things that I have had to read,” he said. “The fact that my family were at home completely defenseless reading it too made it incredibly hard for me to continue.”

“When my nephew tried to say hello to me via the stream and people started to attack him and JDRF, myself and the production team knew that it was time to act. Once the hotel location had been mentioned we felt that it was the right time to stop the stream.”

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So far the White brothers have raised over £5,000.

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