Fred Durst: Oscar Voter?

This morning, we received the below e-mail from an understandably concerned reader:

Hey guys,

Fred Durst just posted a photo of some screeners of last year’s biggest films, prompting people to believe he’s an Oscar voter. Could this be?

Say it isn’t so!

-Alex

Well, Alex, I’m happy to tell you that it probably isn’t so!

While I don’t know for a fact that Freddy isn’t on the Academy — there is not, to the best of my knowledge, a website listing all the members — I do know that you have to be invited to join the Academy. And I think the chances that Freddy was invited are probably pretty slim.

“So how’d he get those screeners?” you ask. Well, first of all, he’s a celebrity in Hollywood, and it’s entirely possible that his agent or some other industry douche nabbed them for him. But maybe even more likely is that they were sent to him because he’s a member of the Directors Guild of America, which is, in case the name doesn’t give it away, the union for directors. See, the Oscars aren’t the only end-of-year film awards currently up for grabs — all of the unions (which also include the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America) give out their awards shortly before the Oscars, and they all get sent these screeners. Since Fred has directed two feature films and multiple music videos, it stands to reason that he’s in the DGA and, thus, received the screeners.

So rest assured, Alex, when some competent-but-not-especially-interesting movie wins Best Picture come Oscar night, it will be because it garnered votes from a plethora of old, out-of-touch white people, not middle-aged, out-of-touch white Fred Durst. I hope that provides you with some comfort.