Fox News reporter Mike Beaudet ruined the career of a stellar teacher named Kevin Hogan this week when he outed Hogan’s gay porn past. And while Beaudet hasn’t pushed to disenfranchise LGBT folk on the national level, like Senator Rick Santorum has, as a reporter he bears responsibility for harassing a gay teacher by bringing an issue to light that didn’t necessarily need the exposure. So let’s consider how to shame Beaudet in return.
In a way, Beaudet was just doing his job: he found a juicy story, reported it then relished in the ratings boost and slaps on the ass from higher-ups. But as a reporter, you choose the stories you cover.
Hogan’s gay porn past had little effect on his classroom skills, wasn’t illegal, and hurt no one except for himself. But now that he’s been forced into the national spotlight, his ability to teach anywhere seems done for.
Did Beaudet know that Hogan was going to get suspended and probably fired? Yes. He’s a career journalist who “has won nine Boston/New England Emmys.” He knows what happens after you air these stories.
Beaudet has deprived Hogan’s students of an English department chair, a crew coach and a generally awesome mentor. And you know what? His kids are pissed! Pissed enough to make a Facebook group called “Support Kevin Hogan, FIRE Mike Beaudet”! Their change.org petition even has 193 signatures.
Being a little older and wiser, we know the solution is not to fire Mike Beaudet. It’s to give him a taste of his own medicine! Dan Savage is suggesting we try to dig up some skeletons in his closet to see if he’s a “panty-sniffing perv.” But why not go back to your tried-and-true formula, Dan?
That is: Let’s coin a gay slang word to stand in for Beaudet. Here’s a few suggestions. Vote on them in the comments and we’ll announce the winner tomorrow.
Usage: Dude, this Beaudet came to my party and then totally wrote about how we have Justin Bieber posters on the wall in the New York Observer without even telling us and then it got picked up by Gawker and we were proud of our apartment.
Usage: Kelly got so Beaudet’d at the dinner party when her ex Mike revealed that her favorite part of sex with him was giving him rim jobs.
This is what a Google-bomb feels like, Mike.
Photo via My Fox Boston
Considering his name rhymes with bidet, I’d say he’s already meeting you more than halfway.
Isn’t this all a bit puerile? Santorum was a huge laugh, and a word was needed for that situation, but generalising it will take the punch out of the whole thing.
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This is supposed to be, what, a lesson for all journalists to keep up the good work, as long as it doesn’t victimize a homosexual?
Let’s face it: A porn past is pretty difficult to conceal when you’re working with kids, and this guy could’ve chosen a thousand different career moves that wouldn’t have come back to bite him in the ass.
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“In a way, Beaudet was just doing his job: he found a juicy story…”
I’m still dying to know how Beaudet dug up this “juicy story.” Hytch Cawke (oy vey- that NAME!) did, what, a whopping three scenes in some relatively obscure flicks?
Perhaps the “juicier story” would be that of a “respected journalist” spankin’ it to cheaply made porn on the clock.
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Here in NJ 2 het women have lost teaching jobs for the same reason. I think that there is a fine line drawn as to how much privacy a teacher, and some other public figures have.
A few weeks back on this group, there was a thread about another teacher in NJ who, on her private facebook profile, said some really nasty things about GLBT people. Many on here wanted her fired. I think these 2 issues show how we need to be careful with what we post on line, what groups we join and what pictures we all have out there in cyberspace.
All of the above did nothing illegal. They did do something that make many of us very uncomfortable. I am not sure how I would feel knowing that my child’s teacher did porn films, or was a far right religious bigot.
Leave this guy alone… he was just doing his job
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Okay, now it’s time for me to spew my sarcasm on this thread:
Why, this investigative journalist should not have been investigating a teacher’s porn past. It’s not like morality and sound judgement are characteristics we should demand in a teacher!
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The only one to blame is Kevin Hogan aka Hytch Cawke. The reporter didn’t dig up Hogan’s porn past. The porn in question is in the present since it was from last year. It isn’t like this teacher made a mistake 20 years ago. As for digging the porn was made to be commercially sold so it was supposed to be out to the public. Not much digging there.
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Uh, yeah…I guess you could turn his name into a slang word (by the way guys, reporter’s name is pronounced “bo-det,” so it DOESN’T rhyme with “bidet”), and maybe that might make you feel better…but wouldn’t you rather subject him to the same thing he subject Kevin Hogan to?
Mike Beaudet and his producer Kevin Rothstein are both part-time faculty at Emerson in the Department of Journalism. Why not write to the department chair and demand they be dismissed? His name is Ted Gup and you can email him at ted_gup@emerson.edu. Beaudet and Rothstein want people to question if Mr. Hogan is fit to teach English…well maybe Mr. Gup should question of either of them are fit to teach journalism! And while you’re at it, you can reach Beaudet at michael_beaudet@emerson.edu and Rothstein at kevin_rothstein@emerson.edu.
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If this is such an injustice, why not be mad at the school district instead of the messenger? The news would inevitably have gotten out.
Nice drama queen note to say “his ability to teach anywhere seems done for.” That’s at least debatable.
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@JayKay: Why? Because you say so? That’s not enough, kid. One is against the law. The other isn’t. Get it? Just because you’ve declared that being in an adult film is the equivalent of breaking the law doesn’t make it so. And I hate to shatter your fantasy about pornographic films, but in most of them the sex is simulated. Chances are that Mr. Hogan didn’t even have sex.
Your sense of morality serves your narcissism and pride. All you really care about is looking in the mirror and seeing someone who’s better than everybody else. Well give yourself a pat on the back, kid…that’s probably what you’re best at!
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Here’s how it probably went down:
Producer: Hey Beudet, I’ve got a great story for you to cover.
Beudet: What is it?
Producer: It’s about a teacher who did some gay porn movies.
Beudet: (to himself)Wow, this could get me my 10th Emmy Award. But, wait, could this ruin this guys career????? NAH!
Beudet: Hey, Skip, get the cameras and the van and LET’S ROLL!!! Hey, do I need a touch-up? Grab that can of extra stiff hairspray Bonnie!!!
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Beaudet is a lowlife. Why don’t you go after corrupt politicians, investigative journalist? Oh, that’s right. Because it’s much easier going after the little guy than after actual criminals! It’s the students who will suffer here, as most of them reportedly support the teacher. I’m sure this bothers many who are flexing their overly dramatic, self-righteous muscle but not everyone thinks “OMG former porn star = immoral and incapable of ever being around kids again!”.
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@DB: Prostitution is legal in Nevada. I wouldn’t want a whore teaching my kids whether it’s legal or not. I wouldn’t want a porn star teaching my kids either. I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with these people, but choosing a career such as porn does in a general sense cause me to question whether that person has the kind of ethics and values I would want my children to exposed to in a learning environment.
If teachers were simply a faceless vessel through which we transmit knowledge from generation to generation, then I wouldn’t care what they do in their off time. The truth is, though, that they serve as de facto role models for children, and while in the adult world there isn’t anything legally wrong with prostitution or pornography, it certainly doesn’t belong in the mix when it comes to younger people.
So, yes, I am saying if he only teaches highschoolers it’s less of an issue to me than if he’s teaching kindergarten. It’s still an issue, though.
I do feel sorry for him, but he should have known that by choosing to do porn he was creating a risk that might cause him to lose out on some opportunities in the future. One of those is jobs that involve being a role model to children.
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My infantile self votes for #3.
If all teachers were role models, then I must be a really shitty person. 70% of my teachers had crappy attitudes. Seriously though, it’s not automatic. We knew back in high school who the good teachers were. No one had to tell us who were mean. We avoided them!
C’mon… peeps. Give your kids a little more credit. The kids say he’s great teacher and clearly want him back. Let it go.
The real villains here were Mike Beaudet and FOX25. Nothing was gained by this reporting other than losing an effective teacher whose indie porn would’ve remained unknown to his students. Lots of porn of the web. I’ve browsed through so many I can’t remember faces.
And don’t tell me none of you have never seen porn. Because if you’ve seen porn even once, you appreciated it. It satisfied your curiosity. There’s no shame in coming back for more in the privacy of your home. Why act holier-than-thou against people who appeared on it? You’re just as guilty for watching.
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I have never met an english teacher who I haven’t wanted to knock out. Most of them are usually failures at their undergraduate studies. English is seen as a simpler degree to do. As far as teaching qualifications go. They usually are very closed minded about which texts to have the students concentrate on. Generally the texts they task the students on are bitter old queens from the UK or someone they had no understanding of themselves. Basically if this dude has a million pictures of his cock on the internet sooner or latter someone is going to discover him. Generally people who feel the need to put thousands of naked pictures of themselves on the internet have issues with their self esteem aswell as their body image. People like that aren’t exactly very stable. They are possible very aggressive and an angry vicious kind of person. People send their kids to school and cross their fingers and believe their kids are in good hands. That the people their with love their kids and hopefully explain elements of life that will hopefully result in them growing up healthy and happy. This dude I would imagine would be the equivalent of a 30 or 40 year old bully. He wouldn’t molest them. He wouldn’t hit them or physically injure them but I would imagine he may raise his voice alot and use language or condemning feedback. Counter productive feedback that wouldn’t be good for the kids self esteems. The kids I’d imagine after a while would bite back. And perhaps one of the kids did. And this is it. The gentlemen needs to find a more suitable career. He’s also not the best looking specimen. Its beyond me how he got porn star work.
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@31
If you’re following this story, students at Mystic Valley are tweeting and petitioning for Mike Hogan to return to school. They say he’s a great teacher. So your analysis of “people who put naked pictures online” is contradicted by recent actual events. How could this 30 or 40 year old bully be wanted back by his very students?!
Viewer feedback has been split 80/20, with 80% of viewers against the news station. Almost all of the comments on the official FOX25 site are condemning the expose. There’s also a Facebook page “Support Kevin Hogan, FIRE Mike Beaudet” with over 2,000 likes.
Methinks you’ve judge this individual too quickly through unsound generalizations. Facts speak louder than what you think of English teachers and porn stars.
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Actually Dan I have family that works for a local fox station and they are affiliated, but your right that not all fox stations share their lie and hate filled parent company’s views. But I did a little research and found that this particular station share a lot of the same mindsets that Faux News does. And yes I am pissed that the school is bowing to the few ignorant viewers/parents that do have a problem with this, but this was a bullshit story where the so called “reporter” clearly implied this man because he started in gay porn is the same as a pedophile who can’t be trusted with children so I am much much much more pissed at the “reporter”.
Conservatives can be such douches.
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Actually Dan I have family that works for a local fox station and they are expected to use reports from the parent company, but your right that not all fox stations share their lie and hate filled parent company’s views. But I did a little research and found that this particular station share a lot of the same mindsets that Faux News does. And yes I am pissed that the school is bowing to the few ignorant viewers/parents that do have a problem with this, but this was a bullshit story where the so called “reporter” clearly implied this man because he starred in gay porn is the same as a pedophile who can’t be trusted with children so I am much much much more pissed at the “reporter”.
Conservatives can be such douches.
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“This is a big lapse of judgment. You have to put aside any hopes and dreams of being a porn star when you want to teach kids,” said Sue O’Connell, co-publisher of Bay Windows, New England’s biggest newspaper for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community
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If you want to make the tee shirt, try the caption “Bobbit Beaudet”:
to bobbit: transitive verb. To do to someone what Lorena Bobbit did to John Bobbit
(regardless of whether the chopped off appendage was successfully reattached or
not).
Besides, John Bobbit apparently had a subsequent stint in some porn production
named, “John Wayne Bobbit: Uncut” (just found that tidbit on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.....na_Bobbitt ), which would seem to be a fitting fate for Mike Beaudet.
The first thing a lot of guys probably thought when the Bobbit story broke was, “Thank God I’m gay.”
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The thing we really need to be fighting against is the idea that sex between consenting adults, whether it be for pay or not, should not be a problem. The guy performed in a porn film. So what? As long as he isn’t showing it to the kids he’s teaching, what’s the issue? That the kids might find out about it? Why are the kids looking at porn anyway? That’s like saying teachers shouldn’t go to bars because the children might see them leaving. This is just a matter of prudish people not minding their own business. It shouldn’t matter if he’s doing porn right now in his spare time after work. If he doesn’t bring it to work with him, there should be no problem.
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E: That is what affiliates do; they share news stories with the companies they are AFFILIATED with. This is the 20th time in about as many weeks that Queerty and other sites equate a LOCAL FOX affiliate, with Fox News Channel. It’s ignorant.
And spare me with the “Faux” new bullshit propaganda. The left hates a right-leaning news organization, but doesn’t seem to give a fuck about the leftists posing as journalists and failing basic journalistic integrity while they spread talking points over at both CNN and MSNBC. Your outrage is misguided or naive or hypocritical. Pick one or more.
Teachers: Please don’t make porn if you like your career. I like watching it a lot. However, it is not news that you will be fired when it’s uncovered. That reality might suck. But it’s reality.
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Simple question: if you knew someone belonged to the nazi fascist league, and wore a swastika on their arm at he weekends, even if they never directly mentioned their beliefs, would you want them teaching your kids? Why not? Because their extremely liberal beliefs colour the person they are, and the way that they respond in every situation.
Again I say, this is not about whether or not you believe that doing gay fetish porn is morally acceptable, but whether someone who’s morals are so far at odds with the parental beliefs of the students is an appropriate person to teach. I think parents have a perfect right to have some say in the people employed to teach their kids, as these are the adult role models with whom they will spend the most time, and I think the school was perfectly right to suspend him, if only for lying on his job application.
Much as some people here might want to suggest that people can completely compartmentalise areas of their lives, it’s not normal or easy to do so. I get irritated that this man is being touted as a victim of journalism, when his contemporary videos are so very readily available. The man was a total fool if he thought he would get away with it. HE should be the one answering awkward questions. Don’t shoot the messenger.
The fact that so many people here fly to his defence, only goes to show how those with overly liberal mindsets cannot separate for their belief system from their daily lives.
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And you know what, Queerty should be fucking humiliated to run this story. Ignoring whether or not their journalistic accuracy is all that high, this site digs up every “Is he gay” story, links to every “Naked celeb pics leaked by girlfiend” piece, and generally does more to intrude into the lives of gay and straight males alike that the worst gutter rag, so anyone who takes these crocodile tears and mock sincerity remotely seriously should think again. You’re like Hitler trying to lead a “respect humanity” rally.
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You guys should just pull the plug on this website and give up. You can’t do any good for the victim in this story (the teacher) because no matter how bad Fox is, your journalistic credentials and integrity are even sketchier. All this story did was provide a forum for douchebags like JK and Dan to spout off their ignorant anti-gay philosophies. The hell with them and the hell with this site too.
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I wish there was a solution to this, but you’re not going to get people to think that teachers who participate in public commercial sex (regardless of legality) are going to be appropriate as instructors in a school environment. Perhaps in some very liberal school districts, it might not be a distraction, but in many, it would be (kids are well, kids, and they’ll talk. Parents can be dumb too – and they can make life miserable at the school too). Its not like teachers don’t know the rules. Do porn (straight or gay), smoke dope, get busted, lose your career. Is it fair, perhaps not. But it isn’t a secret. And as far as I can tell, the rule appears to be applied evenly (straight or gay, male or female). If Hitch Ryder wants to try and change the policy of the school board, that’s his business. But lots of jobs have stupid rules. But I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for him. Its not like this was 20 years ago. I’m not sure he is the best posterboy to champion a change in the policy seeing as his porn shoot was apparently last year. Perhaps those with a vested interest in removing these rules might wish to find a testcase with a teacher with a bit more distance between him and his/or her porn past.
Many of Fox news’ local affilates are hideously anti-gay (Dallas’ is one), and the generally tend to be very base and sensational (as compared to their network affiliates’ local news). I’m not surprised at this story. But I’m fairly confident that had this same producer found evidence of a straight teacher performing in a porn movie last summer, they’d run the story too.
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I wonder if Beaudet will now look into the background of all the other teachers at the same school and see how many of them have had extra-marital affairs. Only fair to research into the lives of all of the teachers at the school. Don’t want the students to think that only Newt Gingrich can get away with it!
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Please show your support for Mr. Hogan! http://www.facebook.com/firemikebeaudet
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Someone wrote this. I thought it was awesome.
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This guy has been doing this for years. He doesn’t actually make homophobic statements but relies on the homophobia of others to create a controversy. But right or wrong wont matter to his targets. The bad publicity, the ambush interview, the creepy camera angle, the abrasive tone pretty much destines their careers.
How is it that Boston has been putting up with this for so long????
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To all of those saying that he shouldn’t be teaching kids, and that the reporter is the victim here, where is the line drawn? So you see his porn past as immoral and that colors his personality and thus his teaching style. So, what about other “immoral” teachers. Those that are having affairs? Those that smoke marijuana on the weekends? Those that are gay activists? Those that are gay? Would all of these behaviors color the teacher’s personality? How do you know? Would that mean all of them should be fired? Who are you to say that porn is where the line is drawn versus these other behaviors that some people find immoral?
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Please, like you don’t operate by the same low standards.