"The videos were intended to be humorous skits" full of sexual innuendo and anti-gay remarks

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Navy opens investigation into raunchy videos
By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent
January 2, 2011 7:13 a.m. EST



Capt. Owen Honors was the executive officer, or second-in-command, of the Enterprise when the vidoes were made.

Washington (CNN) -- The Navy has opened an investigation into how a series of raunchy videos, full of sexual innuendo and anti-gay remarks, were produced and shown to the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise while on deployment supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Navy spokesman Cmdr. Chris Sims said the videos, which were shown to the crew in 2006 and 2007, are "inappropriate."

Excerpts from the videos and descriptions of their content were first published Saturday by The Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, Virginia.

The videos on the paper's website, reviewed by CNN, feature a man identified by two Navy officials and The Virginian-Pilot as Capt. Owen Honors, who at the time was the executive officer, or second-in-command, of the Enterprise. He recently took command of the carrier, winning one of the most coveted assignments in the U.S. Navy, which has only 11 aircraft carriers.

Honors is shown cursing along with other members of his staff in an attempt to demonstrate humor, according to videos. There are also anti-gay slurs, simulated sex acts, and what appear to be two female sailors in a shower together.

***

The Navy issued a statement Saturday, saying in part "production of videos, like the ones produced four to five years ago on USS Enterprise and now being written about in the Virginian-Pilot, were not acceptable then and are still not acceptable in today's Navy. The Navy does not endorse or condone these kinds of actions."

The statement also said, "U.S. Fleet Forces Command has initiated an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the production of these videos; however, it would be inappropriate to comment any further on the specifics of the investigation."

But the Saturday statement was an about-face from the initial military statement to the newspaper. In that statement, the Navy said the videos were "not created with the intent to offend anyone. The videos were intended to be humorous skits focusing the crew's attention on specific issues such as port visits, traffic safety, water conservation, ship cleanliness, etc."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/02/navy.videos/index.html?hpt=C1

[freshwest]

1. Don't these guys have anything better to do?

The whole thing looks like inmates in prison desperate for escapism from something they can barely stand to be a part of. And that their superiors promoted it indicates a weird mentality on their part. I suppose requesting the hours spent or the money wasted is out of the question on this matter...

[wtmusic]

2. Not that it's right

but it's certainly nothing new.

[Ian David]

3. I have a high tolerance for tastelessness so long as it's funny. None of this is funny. n/t

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. I won't watch the videos, but +1 for the sentiment.

I love tastelessness and dead-baby comedy too.

[Ian David]

5. I watched it all the way through. Nothing even giggle-worthy. n/t

[PacerLJ35]

6. That's because the humor is directed towards inside jokes about Navy life.

If you haven't served on a ship, you probably wouldn't get it. I've been in the military and I could get some of the jokes, particularly the 3 minute shower one and having the XO come in and time you...stuff like that happens in deployed locations too...nothing like wondering why an O-5 has the time to stand and pull shower watch. I'm quite sure that was the general intent of that skit. The gay slurs...probably because the aviator community and the SWO community (surface warfare officers...ie, the people who run the ships) constantly needle and make fun of each other. His attempt was to hype up that little competitive divide between the two communities, even among his own personality. As the XO of an aircraft carrier, he's both a surface warfare guy and an aviator.

While I'd say it was probably well into pushing the boundaries coming from the leadership of the ship, it wasn't any more offensive than anything else I can watch on prime time TV at night (minus the cursing, but again, who cares).

[FreeState]

7. There is no excuse for anti-anybody slurs, period n/t

[PacerLJ35]

8. Wrong context...

They were slurs meant to poke fun of his alter-ego, not meant to be "anti-gay". For what it's worth, if you don't want to see anything that uses such language I suggest you turn off your television and radio.

[noamnety]

9. In what world was that not anti-gay?

In his intro he says he's gotten complaints in the past about the offensive content of his videos, and "bleeding hearts and fags" are gonna find this one offensive too.

That's not humor, it's just basic freeper hate speech.

And it's stupidity. If you're already aware that people have complained about your videos creating a hostile work environment, there's zero excuse for continuing to do it, or for bashing the people who complained about it (as he also does in his intro).

It astounds me that people who would immediate get why racist slurs are unacceptable are fine with a navy officer broadcasting other bigoted slurs. It also astounds me that some people apparently can't discern the difference between voluntarily watching a show like that on tv, vs. their commander using his position of authority to create and then broadcast it to the whole ship.

Nevermind the extremely high creep factor of the commander beaming images of himself simulating masturbating complete with splooging on his shoes to all his employees. WTF. He comes off as a disgusting bigoted freeper fratboy pig that I wouldn't want to be alone with.

[FreeState]

11. How were they not meant to be anti gay?

Sorry but the jokes in these videos are nothing like SNL or any other show I've watched, and even if they were those TV shows were not produced and paid for with my taxes.

[Golden Raisin]

10. Great use by the Defense

Department of OUR tax dollars.