Russia to Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst: You’ll Always Have a Home in Crimea

Fred Durst is the lead singer of what may be the most hated band in the United States — a group that has been voted by Rolling Stone readers as one of the worst bands to emerge in the 1990s, the band with the dumbest name of all time, and one of the top ten musical groups that should break up immediately.

But it turns out the star of Limp Bizkit, known for his raw-throated singing and affinity for flat-brimmed hats, is wildly popular in Russia, and if he’s interested, the government there is ready to help him move to the annexed peninsula of Crimea.

The Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom tweeted Thursday that he’s expressed a desire to move there, and that the government would welcome him.

Limp Bizkit emerged from Florida in the mid-1990s and has since released six studio albums and sold at least 50 million copies worldwide. But as years dragged on, the band’s popularity sagged, in part because its lyrics managed the difficult task of being vicious and corny at the same time (Everybody sux/You don’t really know why/But you want to justify/ Rippin’ someone’s head off). After a brief hiatus during the mid-2000s, most of the group’s members got back together in 2009. But Durst admitted that a large part of his reconciliation with the band was getting over the fact he hated most of his fans, who he said “misinterpreted” his lyrics.

“For years I looked into the crowd and saw a bunch of bullies and assholes who tortured me and ruined my life,” he told Rolling Stone in 2009.

So maybe it was the language barrier that attracted Russians to the group, and in turn the group to Russia, where they performed in 2012 and 2013. Later this month they will embark on a month-long tour across the country, where they are slated to perform more than a dozen shows, including in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Durst was in Russia just recently to plan for the upcoming tour when he was invited onto a Russian radio show to talk about his music. Once on air, Durst reportedly confessed his love for Moscow and the rest of the country and expressed a desire to move there — a claim Russian authorities have been eager to tout, especially as Moscow’s political relationship with the U.S. continues to deteriorate over policy differences in Syria and Ukraine.

One Sept. 1 article published on state-run news agency Sputnik International’s website titled “Limp Bizkit Vocalist Fred Durst Wants to Become Russian Citizen,” bragged that Durst uses every chance he can get to visit Moscow.

“I wouldn’t mind getting a Russian passport,” they quoted Durst as saying to the radio host. “If you have communication with the relevant authorities, which could assist with obtaining it… share.”

Meanwhile, Dmitry Polonsky, the deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of Crimea, seems delighted about the possibility of Durst purchasing a home in Crimea. It could use the money: Crimea’s tourism industry ground to a halt after Russia annexed the territory last year in a move not recognized by the rest of the world.

“We have many areas with beautiful nature so I’m sure that he’ll find a place to settle down that would suit his tastes,” Polonsky said.

What exactly Polonsky means by “tastes” is unclear. According to a Reddit forum Durst hosted, the singer originally considered naming his group Gimp Disco, Split Dickslit, Bitch Piglet, or Blood Fart — none of which exactly imply a penchant for class. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised to help arrange passports for international celebrities in the past, including American boxer Roy Jones Jr.

Limp Bizkit’s agent didn’t immediately return a phone call to Foreign Policy Thursday, but Durst reportedly told the Russian radio station that he thinks Russia is largely misunderstood. “How Russia is portrayed in the media is far from reality, and I want to prove to everyone, that it’s really cool!” he said in the interview.

Maybe he just sees a little bit of Moscow in himself.

Photo Credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images