Navy Investigating Commanders Lewd Videos

Capt. Honors is expected to be relieved of his duties in an official announcement Tuesday afternoon.

Capt. Owen Honors – now the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier, USS ENTERPRISE, is being investigated for producing and starring in videos that aired onboard the ship in 2006 and 2007, when Capt. Honors was the executive officer (second-in-command).

In the videos Capt. Honors, 49, mocks gays, simulates masturbation, and makes wide use of profanity and sexual jokes. In one video, he even acknowledges that his skits are likely to offend some “bleeding hearts.” In another video Honors even admits knowing that his videos offend people. In one clip he says "Over the years I’ve gotten several complaints about inappropriate material during these videos, never to me personally but, gutlessly, through other channels."

The Virginian-Pilot, who broke news of the offensive videos over the weekend, reports that Captain Honors aired videos weekly through the ships closed-captioned television system to entertain sailors and Marines onboard.

The videos include scenes with female Navy sailors pretending to shower together and male sailors pretending to wash each other. A cardboard cutout of Capt. Honors is even featured in one of the shower scenes with the two female sailors. The newspaper reports that there is no nudity in the videos, only implied nudity with males filmed from the waist up and females filmed from the shoulders up. In some skits, sailors, including officers, simulate masturbation, dress in drag and pretend to perform a rectal exam.

The videos were part of what Capt. Honors called “XO Movie Night,” and appear to be well thought out with scripts, multiple scenes, takes and special effects. The Virginian-Pilot points out that many of the videos were shot and edited while the ENTERPRISE was deployed in support of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The Navy announced that they are investigating the videos and will make official comments once an investigation is complete. ABC news reports that defense officials say that the Navy is expected to relieve the commander of his duties; an official announcement is expected Tuesday afternoon.