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Capt. Owen Honors Relieved of Duty Over Videos

By Minara El-Rahman on January 04, 2011 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

After an investigation into Capt. Owen Honors' USS Enterprise racy videos, the New York Times reports that the Navy has decided to relieve Capt. Owen Honors of duty. Capt. Owen Honors will be relieved of his duty before the USS Enterprise leaves its home port in Norfolk, Va. for Afghanistan this month.

The scandalous videos contained footage deemed "clearly inappropriate" by the Navy such as simulation masturbation, women appearing to shower together, gay slurs, and sailors dressed in drag.

While the videos were produced and aired on board the USS Enterprise three to four years ago, no formal investigation of Capt. Owen Honors was launched at the time, CBS News reports. Currently, investigators still have to determine why Capt. Owen Honors was never reprimanded, punished, and was even promoted despite the Navy being aware of his offensive videos.

However, according to ABC News, Capt. Owen Honors introduced some of his videos by stating that his superior officers did not know what the sailors on board were about to see and that they "should absolutely not be held accountable in any judicial setting."

That may not be enough for senior officers. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark told Good Morning America: "The question that comes out of something like this is why was it permitted? He wasn't the senior officer on the ship. There were people over him on the ship who permitted it and apparently there were complaints against him and he sort of bulldozed his way through it and continued to do these things."

A spokesman for the Navy's Fleet Force Command released a statement that said that "the Navy does not endorse or condone these kinds of actions."

Gay rights advocates applauded not only the Navy's official stance on the videos, but also its quick action after the investigation was launched, according to the Washington Post. Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network told the Washington Post that, "What we see here is, unfortunately a 49-year-old Navy captain acting like a 19-year-old fraternity boy. There is no place for that type of frat-house behavior."

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