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If you've been following the real news, you'll recall that Max Mosley is the British Formula 1 racing president who is currently involved in a slight tiff over a video of him having an hours-long Nazi-themed orgy with five hookers. A bit embarrassing for him personally, yes. It's also caused some grumbling among the Formula 1 teams. And now, this sex scandal is reaching its absurd logical conclusion, as its ripples extend into the highest reaches of the world's corporations: BMW and Mercedes-Benz have jointly condemned Mosley's sexual taste as "disgraceful." [BBC]. Because they are the arbiters of morality in sexuality! They're also a bit sensitive about the whole Nazi angle, because, you know, they're from Germany themselves.

Mosley himself pointed out, in response to their joint condemnation of him:


Given the history of BMW and Mercedes-Benz, particularly before and during the Second World War, I fully understand why they would wish to strongly distance themselves from what they rightly describe as the disgraceful content of these publications.

Zing? Honda and Toyota also issued somewhat more mealy-mouthed statements on the affair, generically calling for "high standards of behavior" among senior officials.

But why? BMW/ Mercedes said in their statement that because of Mosley's position, the scandal's "consequences therefore extend far beyond the motorsport industry." Really? Because unless I missed something, it consisted of a leaked tape of a man pursuing his own, admittedly kinky and extreme, sex life. You could be forgiven for thinking that it's more disgraceful for executives at some of the world's largest auto companies to spend hours viewing Mosly's private sex tape in order to determine their own high-handed response.

These companies have never been shy about using sex to sell their products. Indeed, sex is a basic staple of auto marketing, from its TV commercials to the models at its trade shows. And does anyone believe that Mosley is actually a Nazi because he has a fetish? By that logic, lots of otherwise straitlaced executives at corporations around the world would in fact be dungeon masters or slaves or tigers or Catholic schoolgirls.

Mosley is thus far standing firm in his decision not to resign.