Video: unedited, uncensored Owen Honors videos published by Military Times; Was Captain Honors really a sexist homophobe, or was he railroaded?

Many gay bloggers have recently embedded the edited video released by the Virginian-Pilot of XO Movie Night introductions made by Captain Owen P. Honors, recently relieved of his command of the U.S.S. Enterprise. His remarks have been called homophobic. We at aksarbent, fell into that groupthink several posts ago, but no longer see it that way.

As a facebook supporter noted (below), the instance in which Honors used an epithet, "fag SWO boy," was in a scene with three characters, that, through video trickery, were all played by Honors himself. Is calling yourself "fag boy" primarily homophobic, or simply self-mocking?

We think Captain Honors is probably more accepting of gay people than, say, Jay Leno, David Letterman or Lorne Michaels, the czar of SNL, and that he is being railroaded.

Here are unedited versions of three videos which were combined, edited, censored and released by the Virginian-Pilot, followed by comments made on the facebook page supporting Captain Honors.

Military Times website. (Skip to 6:20 for XO movie night intro in video 2.)



Facebook comments:

Steve Schermerhorn: Relieving one of eleven Captains qualified to command a nuclear aircraft carrier of his command for "lewd" videos shown to over 5000 sailors as early as 2006 was not a reprimand for poor judgment. Look through the paper thin smoke screen. This was a political assassination. Captain Honors was taken out to clear a slot for a boot licker on the way up.

Mika Kiser: I was on the enterprise during that time and I can tell you without the hesitation that what captian honors did was a moral booster. We all looked forward to his videos and we all knew he was joking. What the navy is doing by reliving him is showing that the navy dosn't care about moral. What he did helped us all get through that deployment.

Beka Smothers: Dear Captain Honors-
I'm due to report to the USS Vinson middle of this year- i was wondering if you would come be my CO? You sound like an awesome leader, and from the looks of the comments below, your people love you because you took care of them, no matter what jokes you made. So i would be honored and blessed to serve under you, sir!!!

Fegelah Boychic: Captain Owen Honors is just another homosexual in the closet as been proven time and time again. Most military men who make fun of gays are in fact closet homosexuals and Honors (sic ) is amongst the finest . Honors looks and sounds like a typical Marines bottom - one who likes to get screwed repeatedly by the entire crew of the Enterprise.

Brandon Favela: And if he is? His sexuality isn't the issue. It's his leadership abilities. He's a good leader. I'm a beaner. I make beaner jokes. I have gay friends. They make fag jokes... Guess what, humor draws us closer and breaks down walls.... you jackass.

Matt Hassebrock: Someone want to explain to me how Captain Honors is "homophobic" when the videos he made were straight up GAY!?!?! He had guys taking showers together and pretending to give each other prostate exams! Where is the homophobia? When he was saying "fag", he was saying it to another digitally inserted video of himself. Essentially he called himself a fag and put the joke back on himself to get some laughs out of his sailors. He should be drinking hot coco from a CVN-65 mug in his Captain's chair like the badass that he is, not sitting behind a desk.

Beka Smothers: exactly, he intentionally made HIMSELF look like a fool to make other people laugh. sounds like a great leader to me. he did what he felt would boost morale, and according to the people on this page who served with him, it worked. so fuck what anyone else says, if they weren't there they can fuck off and shut up.

Lee Van Horne Sr: In the words of Carlos Mencia, "If you can take a dick, you can take a joke." Enough said.

Rachel Turner: To the woman who said this video was sexual harassment - are you kidding me?!! You're one of those females who give the rest of us a bad name. Put your big girl panties on and let us real women, who like to have fun and can laugh at nothing more than what amounts to a SNL skit, represent women in the Navy. I was a petite female aboard a ship where men greatly outnumbered women. I never once felt intimidated by my male shipmates. We worked hard but knew how to have fun and lighten up. Maybe you should too.

David Meyer: Having served at sea on two different ships I can tel you the Executive Officer has a great deal to do with the morale of the ship. Sometimes they are seen as the heavy-handed dictators just "bucking for command" but most of the time they are fine men and women who really want to make a difference for their crews, and in a time of war, humor is one of the best things they can do. The problem here is that politics have been allowed to infect the military. Truly sad. BZ Captain Honors. I would serve with you.