Limp Bizit’s Fred Durst reportedly wrote letter to Vladimir Putin
Limp Bizkit were set to play at Unibet Arena in Tallinn, Estonia next year, but the concert has now been cancelled.
According to Estonian news outlet ERR, before the recently announced gig was officially axed, it was first postponed with the hope that it would be rescheduled. However, just days after pre-sale tickets were supposed to go on sale, the show’s promoter Baltic Live Agency made the decision to completely scrap the concert.
“We inform you that due to circumstances beyond the organizer’s control, the Limp Bizkit concert planned for May 31, 2026, is cancelled. Our apologies!” the agency said in a statement.
While they did not give a specific reason for the cancellation, it comes after pro-Russian comments made by frontman Fred Durst resurfaced online.
As reported by ERR, Estonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that supporters of Russia – which they declared independence from in 1991 – are not welcome in their country.
“Estonia supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the principle that every last centimeter of Ukrainian territory belongs to Ukraine,” ministry media adviser Brita Kikkas told the publication.
In 2015, shortly after Russia annexed Crimea, Durst told Russia’s state-run news agency Sputnik International that he was interested in moving to the country to work in television and film, saying that he hoped to be able to obtain a Russian passport. He also reportedly wrote a letter to Crimean authorities in which he expressed support for Vladimir Putin, calling him a “great guy with clear moral principles” and later held up a “Crimea=Russia” sign during a concert.
These comments led to Limp Bizkit being banned from Ukraine for five years.
During that period, Durst was married to Russian makeup artist Kseniya Beryazina. The two later divorced in 2018.
Speaking about Limp Bizkit’s now cancelled show, Estonia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna said (via Rolling Stone):
“My position is clear, and I will repeat it: Russia is the aggressor, and Crimea is occupied by Russia. Those who justify Russia’s aggression and the occupation of a neighboring country are not welcome in Estonia. They have no place on Estonian stages and should not be earning income here.
“Concert and cultural event organizers must also understand this. This has been Estonia’s clear stance, and this principle has been followed for several years already. I hope that concert organizers will act accordingly now as well.”
Matt Pinfield’s Limp Bizkit tribute
Limp Bizkit bassist Sam Rivers recently tragically died at 48 years old, stunning his friends, family, and bandmates. Former MTV host Matt Pinfield, who spoke to us yesterday about Soundgarden, had a close personal and professional relationship with Rivers and Limp Bizkit during the band’s late 90’s and early 2000’s prime. Pinfield spoke to Alternative Nation in a new interview about Limp Bizkit and Rivers.
Greg: What were your first impressions of Limp Bizkit when you heard them, and how did you first meet them?
Matt: My first impression of Limp Bizkit was that they were doing something that was kind of on the edge of what was happening with new rock at that period of time. I was doing a TV show, MattRock, which was a new version of Headbangers Ball, which I was hosting. As things started to happen, and we debuted “Counterfeit” and early video stuff off Three Dollar Bill Y’all, it also turned out that my youngest daughter Maya’s mom, my second wife, was from the same town as Limp Bizkit, Jacksonville.
So I spent a lot of time down there, plus I ended up meeting the guys because they were obviously fans of all the rock stuff. We got introduced in Jacksonville through that music scene and Fred and I hit it off — and all the guys in the band, really. I just loved their attitude and everything that they were doing at that period of time. And I also thought it took balls to cover their face. I thought it was cool, like these guys were having fun in their life.
Also, it’s because of the Korn guys — I was friends with Korn. They ended up having the same management with Peter Katsis. And Peter Katsis and I have been friends for 37 years, when he first started managing bands out of Chicago. So there was a long friendship, there was this succession of different people that were involved, and then I was one of the earliest supporters of the band at MTV.
I remember when I started at MTV, I wasn’t just a VJ, I was actually one of the people picking music for the channel, which was fantastic. I started doing that, I got hired managing music programming — and I filled in Depeche Mode, I met Oasis and a bunch of people. It was that kind of thing.
It made sense because there was a real crossover of what was happening in rock and the new hard rock and nu-metal, and that there was enough of a crossover that this stuff was getting played on 120 Minutes, and getting played on the new version of Headbangers Ball, which was called MattRock, which is my show. Where I’m on there with Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Van Halen — and it was also like with Korn and Limp — so that was what was happening at that period of time.
So that’s where that friendship started. And, you know, the whole thing — but I don’t know if we ever talked about this before for any books — but that friendship, I was very early because I was such an early supporter. We had become such great friends. Fred had flown me down — the band had flown me down to Atlanta — to cut that track, the bonus track on Significant Other, where I do my whole rant at the end of the album. We had a blast doing that.
