Public high school teacher starred in porno movies released last year: MyFoxBOSTON.com
Dear Mike Beaudet and Mike Beaudet's Bosses at Fox 25:
I, like most of America, have caught your witch hunt you call "undercover journalism" regarding teacher, Kevin Hogan. And I, like most of America, have relished watching with an insatiable glee as you have been trashed over all forms of social media.
His students have come out to support him, saying he was "the best thing that happened to my crew team." "Single handedly destroyed a man's life." And my personal favorite: "My English teacher is a porn star. #nbd" (No Big Deal.)
You, however, have been noticeably radio silent on your own Twitter page. Since your story broke. Where'd you go, girl?
In case you are not aware: there is not one single, not a single solitary tweet in ALL of the big whale of the Twitterverse or a single comment on the Fox25 website in support of you. Nothing. Nada. Trust me, I've spent three days looking for them. Not a single person even gave you a "LOL. Cool story." Nope. Nothing.
We all agree: you're an asshole.
I'm sure your story about outing a high school teacher as a former porn star seemed like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately, that time was 1985 and not 2011. If your news station ran stories about every teacher, politician, doctor, lawyer, or cupcake maker who had made a home sex video, emailed photos of their junk to someone else or yes, had filmed porno, it would have a data bank of stories bigger than Facebook.
Where is the fantastical town that you live in where teachers are saints? What color is the sky in that world?
What did you think was going to happen with this story? What were you expecting? When you pitched it to the producers who stupidly gave you a greenlight, watched as you investigated, shot and edited your piece, did you think you were getting a Peabody? THIS is journalism?
Now, I'm sure there are people that would be horrified that their children were being taught by an individual who participated in sex acts on film, but statistics show us that 80% of those students are already sexually active. It's not like he had sexual relations WITH his students. It's not like they rushed out, found Mr. Hogan's films and were overcome with a feeling of, "my body... I suddenly have these strange sensations... I must HAVE SEX NOW!" Like THIS was a new thing?
And since no one knew about his film work before your "investigation," you're presentation did nothing more than send an entire school to their iPads and do a Google search. So, Brava. You just made a few porn companies a lot of extra cash.
When I was in the sixth grade, back in the ancient days of 1985, my English teacher was outed by a bunch of obnoxious students for having appeared in Playboy. There we were in class one day and she pulled down the map, and low and behold, there was her Miss July centerfold. She didn't stop being my teacher. She didn't stop being my favorite teacher. She just got cooler in my eyes. (And oddly enough, didn't feel the urge to bang the cheerleader sitting next to me. Crazy, I know.)
They got detention. She was embarrassed. Somehow we all survived. But she didn't lose her job. And that was 1985. AND IT WAS GEORGIA.
As William WoIfrum pointed out on Twitter, if a teacher loses all credibility because they had sexual relations on camera in a film you can't get at Blockbuster, should we allow military personnel who have returned home to the States to teach? After all, some of them have murdered people. Killed, protecting our country. Too strong to say a veteran defending our country and a porn star are two totally different things? What about a Catholic priest? After all, we know that all Catholic Priests are child molesters, right? No? Is that a sweeping generalization?
What about wiccans? Maybe we shouldn't allow them to teach because of their beliefs. And while we're at it, atheists don't believe in God, which is a part of the Pledge of Allegiance. Or Muslims, since we know all of them are terrorists. Why haven't you run someone down with the name of "Mohammed" with photographs of 9/11 and asked them "what do you have to say for yourself?"
No. Let's go after the guy who teaches teenager and makes crappy pay doing it. And let's do it on camera!
WHAT DOES THIS MAN, WHO APPEARED IN A PORN FILM FOR THE MONEY, HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING!? He didn't show his students the film. Wasn't like he said, "today we'll be discussing HAMLET and I brought a film you might enjoy called JUST GONE GAY 8," In fact, you would really have to dig to find his films.
Which leads to the question: HOW DID YOU find out about his films? Me think the lady doth protest too much. That's Shakespeare. Learned that from my sixth grade Playboy bunny English teacher. It means, "girl, I thinks you got something to hide. Mmm-hmmmm."
Your smug, je ne sai quois manner on tape is laughable. You seemed so proud of yourself, catching the porn star off guard. "You've starred in some pretty interesting movies," while thrusting black and white stills in his face.
BUT - the one thing that did come out of your story was that we witnessed an entire school of students rise up and support their teacher. Seriously. It was like a Morgan Freeman movie, only the teacher was a hot white guy. Tweets like "#thekidsarealright" showed us, holy crap, there actually IS hope for the next generation.
What this all comes down to is you are a bully.
Have you learned NOTHING over the past year about bullying? Nothing at all?
This was a gay thing. If this man had been a male porn star in a straight porn, you would have asked the guy out for a beer and asked him what it was like to shoot with Jenna Jameson and gone home to your box of kleenex and lotion. The fact that this was a man appearing in gay porn is what drove your investigation.
And even if it wasn't, that's the perception. And as a screenwriter, whatever the perception is, IS the truth. That is how the audience absorbed it.
I know Fox is "fair and (ahem) balanced" but where was the side that supported Mr. Hogan in your reporting? Where was that?
There's an entire Facebook page with over 3,000 members dedicated to getting you fired. AND I'M A MEMBER.
Here is my advice. You can take it for what it is worth and seeing as how you have about as much credibility as Kim Kardashian at a David's Bridal boutique, I would suggest you take it:
APOLOGIZE. Say you're sorry. Say you're an idiot and you just didn't realize the magnitude of the story. I'm willing to bet if you knew then what you knew now, you never would have gone with the story, so apologize. You ask Kevin Hogan out for a sit-down coffee in a public park and you apologize. You shed a few tears. And you ask for his forgiveness.
EDUCATE YOURSELF. The times are changing. It blows my mind that not a single, solitary Fox News fan came to your aid and support you. NO ONE. Not a single, "well, I don't want my kid bein' ed-u-macated by no homo." You didn't even get a bigot to support you. Dude. That's rough. I mean, seriously, I feel bad for you. (A little.)
Call it a sign of the times, but porn performers are everywhere. In my town of West Hollywood, you can't swing a bat without hitting three of them. (Trust me, I've tried.) They're like glitter: they're everywhere and they're not going away. Whether it's a professionally shot porn film or something you can download amateur style on the internet, the times have changed. You can't even Google MY NAME without finding nude pictures.
I don't mean to make this a "Glory, Glory Hallelujah" moment with me standing on soap box, wearing a Harvey Milk t-shirt, a NOH8 button and a Trevor Project hat, but dude, WAKE UP! I know your station is a Fox affiliate, but you can't go after the gays like that. You could in 1985. Hell, you could in 2005, but not today. Fox even has a show called GLEE! Even Fox knows you don't go after the gays anymore!
GET INVOLVED, MIKE. You are so painfully unaware of what is going on. Get involved in a suicide hotline or attend a PFLAG meeting or just sponsor a Pride event. Do something. Do something that gives back and shows you're trying to get with it. Fake it if you have to. And never use the word "tranny."
The kids are going to be alright. And thanks to your story, we witnessed that first hand.
The Bible tells us, "Judge ye not, lest ye be judged." And dare we all forget, Jesus hung out with prostitutes. He didn't shun people. He didn't grab a camera crew to say, "look at the hooker! What do you have to say for yourself!?"
Your report was about exposing a man and judging him for his past. Not on his works as a teacher. Not on the admiration he had from his students. It was about retribution.
You have the opportunity to turn this around. You can make this better for yourself.
Even if you don't agree with me, you have no fans. NONE of your fans have come out publicly to support you.
Do the right thing. Show people that when you decide to be a bully, you can make it right.
And Mike, it gets better.
Love,
Chad
