Despite Bernie Ecclestone's initial support of his colleague Max Mosley, Ecclestone is now publicly urging the embattled FIA president to cancel his planned trip to Bahrain to oversee the grand prix there this coming weekend.
The humiliation which Mosley apparently pursued in a disturbing sexual escapade involving multiple prostitutes in a sado-masochistic nazi-themed orgy was outdone only by the embarrassment which resulted from the public revelation of the episode in the British tabloids. Following the news breaking, Mosley declared he would proceed as normal as if nothing had happened, but Ecclestone says his colleague should think again. Citing public opinion and predicting that the royal family in Bahrain "wouldn't like it" if he came to their country, Bernie expressed concern that the news at the event would be dominated (pardon the expression) by Mosley's scandal instead of remaining focused on the race itself. Mosley's "business as usual" approach may require some further thought, to say the least. Thanks for the tip, Schwag of Tulsa!
[Source: The Times of London, Photo by Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty ]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Luis @ Apr 1st 2008 1:58PM
First time I agree with Bernie. F1 ended '07 in a sour note, they don't need any more distractions.
Mike @ Apr 1st 2008 4:09PM
You call it a distraction, some would call it entertainment...F1 has always been a drama scene (which is partially why it's so entertaining), what makes this any different? Don't tell me you don't read the headlines at the grocery checkout... ;)
Shawn @ Apr 1st 2008 2:00PM
What consenting adults do in their own private time is their business. Once he steps outside of that office, he is free and able to do whatever he wants within the confines of the law. He should not be penalized over the leak of a video he never intented to be made public.
The "Royal Family" in Bahrain also views homosexuality as a crime. Should FIA ban gays from the event as well?
dan spalinger @ Apr 1st 2008 2:03PM
Boy, you really live with your head in the sand don't you?? I guess lying under oath about "personal relations" with an intern is cool by you as well...
Shawn @ Apr 1st 2008 2:09PM
dan, he is not a government official. He did not have sex with an employee (someone working for the company). He did not make false statements under oath. He did not do anything illegal.
Should you be fired over something you do in your private life that is legal? For example, if you are not married and living with your girlfriend. Should your job be able to fire you over that? This is no different.
Luis @ Apr 1st 2008 2:10PM
Hear that? That's the sound of a can of worms opening up...How many times has it happenned that someone did something stupid and it came back to bite them in the rear? If you're a high profile personality, you have to at least be aware of the potential for this to happen. Using a little common sense goes a long way.
SnapDaddy @ Apr 1st 2008 4:49PM
I guess that keeps Ralph Schummacher out.
Franz @ Apr 1st 2008 2:24PM
There is a huge difference between legality and morality. Sure, there are no laws against what Mosley did but that doesn't make it any less distasteful. Just like there were no laws against Clinton getting blown in the White House. Some behavior is just unacceptable when you're a public figure.
I'm sure no one here needs a history lesson on the crimes of Adolf Hitler, and in my opinion, recreating something as diabolical and sinister as a concentration camp for your own sick twisted pleasure could have only been done by someone who found those events acceptable in the first place. I wouldn't want him running my organization, or coming to my country either.
We were born with brains and common sense. (Well, most of us anyways) You don't always need to have laws passed to tell us that somethings are in really bad taste and as a result, considered unacceptable behavior... especially when carried out by a public figure.
Shawn @ Apr 1st 2008 2:35PM
Franz, morality? Should gays get in trouble at work because their employer thinks homosexuality is immoral? He was NOT a public figure until the leak of this video. How many people, even race fans, would have been able to pick Mosley out of a lineup before?
Franz @ Apr 1st 2008 3:07PM
Are you a homosexual Shawn? Well if you are, my beef isn't with gays so you don't need to keep bringing it up. Stick to the point, which is Max Mosley's concentration camp fetish. Frankly, I wouldn't compare the two: I don't know of any Gay mass murderers.
And Mosley was and is a public figure. You underestimate motorsport fans. I've known what he looked like for years. For a lot of F1 fans, mention F1 and images of Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone come immediately to mind, especially in light of some of the nonsensical rulings that have come out of the FIA these recent years.
Also, at the very least he's known by the various advertisers who pump millions of dollars into motorsport every year. Not to mention team principals, employees and representatives from the various manufacturers who compete. In case you didn't know, F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport. Why do you think various countries are spending millions on grandstands and circuits, trying to get a race? I suppose all these people don't know what Max Mosley looks like either.
Disgruntled Goat @ Apr 1st 2008 3:24PM
Once he steps outside of that office he is free and able to do whatever he wants within the confines of the law but that doesn't mean there are no consequences for his actions.
Most people would probably view this as deviant behavior. If you display deviant behavior then that is indicative of fairly serious character flaws. If you have this character flaw and you've been able to hide it for this long then what other character flaws are you hiding? What other deviant behavior are you involved in that we don't know about?
With being a leader comes being held to a higher standard. We expect leaders to not be deviants, or liars, or whatever. That's why what public figures and other leaders do behind the scenes is our business even though what you do isn't.
Pdexter @ Apr 1st 2008 3:20PM
At least here in Finland if you sent +100 text messages to strip dancer you get fired like our lovely Foreign Minister Kanerva showed as today.
So some Nazi orgies should be no brainer ;)
We are getting far better guy to replace Kanerva and Max would probally be replaced by someone who knows what he's doing(that is if he would be sacked).
John B @ Apr 1st 2008 5:35PM
Given his father was Oswald Mosley, former leader of the British Union of Fascists prior to and during WW II, and that F1 relies heavily on sponsorship, I would expect dressing in Nazi prison camp garb and engaging in S&M sex isn't the wisest thing to do. He should be canned for bad judgement as much as for the actual behaviour.
dan spalinger @ Apr 1st 2008 2:05PM
He is a public figure in charge of a multi-billion $ operation which depends on the marketing of other multi-billion $ companies for its support...he HAS to be held to a higher standard if for no other reason than for that of the sports sponsors...His father had Hitler at his WEDDING for god sakes and he goes and recreates concentration camp scenes with prostitutes?? Yeah...thats the guy I'd want running my sport...
Aki @ Apr 1st 2008 2:22PM
Except what you don't seem to understand is that this is a PR-issue, not legal. And as a PR issue, recreating Nazi's in S&M bondage looks horrible. Yes, he's free to do what he wants in the privacy of his home, but Ecclestone, the Bahrain royal family are also at liberty to tell him he's not wanted.
Ecclestone isn't pressing charges on anything, and illegality has never even been raised. So you're not understanding the issue.
John R @ Apr 1st 2008 2:22PM
What an absolutely bizarre episode this is.
I wonder how many puns, jokes and tongue-in-cheek remarks Clarkson is going to have with this.
Luis @ Apr 1st 2008 3:04PM
I think a lot of F1 fans would be able to "pick him out of a crowd". He may not be a big public figure here in the states as much as the UK and Europe; but he's a public figure regardless. And please stop with the homosexuality thing. This has nothing to do with that. Hitler was loon that nearly wiped out an entire population because of his dementia. If anyone of us did something an employer didn't agree with, you bet they'd let us know,period.
Colin Smith @ Apr 1st 2008 2:41PM
He's not responsible for his father.
However, he is a complete prat, and that in itself demands that he does the decent thing and buggers off.
His role playing was badly done too; so he deserves a very bad review for his acting, directing and, oh yes, production values as well.
A very poor video.
Ian @ Apr 1st 2008 4:14PM
I agree he is not responsible for his father.
He is, however, responsible for his own actions and through the 1960s he was an ACTIVE member of hiis father's party! Years later he distanced himself and has spoken B4 at how motorsports did not prejudge him and indeed accepted him. In return motorsports placed him in their top administrative position as head of the FIA. In this position he has recently called out others for their lack of ethics and for being "certified half wits" etc. That's all well and fine and none of those called out used his prior backgound as a retort.
It is therefore not surprising that it appears few have sympathy for the chap and seemingly some manufacturers are negative on his future prospects in the FIA chair. He was fortunate enough that while he "transgressed" in his early adult life he was given a full opportunity going forward. What more can one ask in life? He can be given a second opportunity IMHO just not running the FIA.
Colin Smith @ Apr 1st 2008 5:06PM
Yes. I think I sort of said all that, only differently.