NORFOLK, Va. | A top officer aboard a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier broadcast to his crew a series of profanity-laced comedy sketches in which he uses gay slurs, mimics masturbation and opens the shower curtain on women pretending to bathe together, a newspaper reported.
The Virginian-Pilot reported in its Saturday editions that Capt. Owen Honors appeared in the videos in 2006 and 2007 while he was the USS Enterprise’s second-ranking officer, and showed them across the ship on closed-circuit television. He took over as the ship’s commander in May.
The Navy said it plans to investigate the videos, which it called “clearly inappropriate.”
“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.,” the Navy said in a statement to the newspaper.
Navy Cmdr. Chris Sims said in a statement sent to the Associated Press that the videos “were not acceptable then and are not acceptable in today’s Navy.”
A phone listing for Capt. Honors was not immediately available. He is a 1983 alumnus of the U.S. Naval Academy and was a naval aviator before holding command. He attended the U.S. Naval Fighter Weapons School, also known as Top Gun.
Commanding officers and enlisted chiefs “are charged to lead by example and are held accountable for setting the proper tone and upholding the standards of honor, courage and commitment that we expect sailors to exemplify,” Cmdr. Sims said in the statement.
In a video obtained by the newspaper and posted on its website, Capt. Honors addresses the camera and introduces a series of several lewd video clips, which he acknowledges have drawn complaints.
It’s not immediately known why the videos are surfacing now. The Virginian-Pilot quoted anonymous crew members who said they raised concerns aboard the ship about the videos when they aired, but they were brushed off.
The newspaper reported that the videos were made during the Enterprise’s two six-month deployments to the Middle East in 2006 and 2007.
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