WTF: 'Freddy Got Fingered' VHS Rental Is 14 Years Late, Gets North Carolina Man Arrested

By Ethan AndertonMarch 28, 2016 5:00 am EST

Sadly, video rental stores have mostly become a thing of the past as viewers have taken to using streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, or various video on demand services, to bring entertainment into their home. But even with video stores extinct, that's not stopping one man from having his day, and potentially his criminal record, tainted by a late video rental.

One man in North Carolina has been arrested for not returning a VHS copy of Tom Green's critically bashed comedy Freddy Got Fingered, which he rented 14 years ago. We're not even talking about a DVD rental. We're talking about a VHS. Get the details below.

The report comes from WSOC News (via The Wrap), reporting James Meyers has been charged with failure to return rental property. In North Carolina, that's a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $200. Are things that slow in North Carolina that taxpayer dollars need to be spent on police officers arresting a man who didn't return a VHS rental? The VHS itself, even at the time of the format's prime, is only 10% of the potential fine, and the video rental store where the tape came from is closed.

Meyers told the news outlet he was pulled over for a broken tail-light, and after his name was run through the system, the officer said, "I don't know how to tell you this but there's a warrant out for your arrest from 2002. Apparently you rented the movie Freddy Got Fingered and never returned it." The man thought the officer was joking, but this couldn't be more true.

At the very least there's no prison time involved, and Tom Green has already heard about the incident:

I just saw this and I am struggling to believe it is real. https://t.co/GrTXoUj29X

— Tom Green (@tomgreenlive) March 24, 2016

In fact, according to New York Daily News, the star of the 2001 comedy has already offered to put in a good word with the court and/or pay for the fine for the Freddy Got Fingered rental. He also added, "I don't even think that it would have been as strange of a story if it had been another movie." We couldn't agree more and we hope this doesn't turn into a real problem for the North Carolina man.