General

Raunchy video lands Navy captain in hot water

Commander of USS Enterprise will likely be fired, say officials

What would Jean-Luc Picard say? Capt. Owen Honors of the USS Enterprise, an aircraft carrier scheduled to depart for the Middle East this month, is expected to be relieved of duty today over a series of “raunchy videos” made public this past weekend, senior defense officials say. The videos depict Capt. Honors engaging in sexually suggestive behaviour and using gay slurs. Naval officials had knowledge of the videos when they were first broadcast in 2007 while Capt. Honors was executive officer of the carrier. Some naval personnel have defended Capt. Honors, saying his videos were merely gag reels meant to boost morale during some of the worst fighting in the Iraq War. Misty Davis, who served under Capt. Honors, described the videos as “no worse than anything you’d see on Saturday Night Live or the Family Guy.” Nevertheless, a U.S. Navy eager to distance itself from the 1991 Tailhook scandal and under pressure to integrate gay servicemen and women following the recent repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” may have deemed the videos as representative of an older, more testosterone-fuelled (and therefore unacceptable) naval culture.

The Globe and Mail

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