The sandwich franchise Subway responded after one of its restaurants received backlash for a tasteless joke about the Titan submersible tragedy.
On July 5, a spokesperson for Subway gave a statement to the “Today” show and confirmed it was aware of the sign.
“We have been in contact with the franchise about this matter and made it clear that this kind of comment has no place in our business,” the spokesperson said. “The sign has since been removed.”
On July 2, Timothy Mauck, based in Georgia, posted a photo to his Facebook page showing a sign outside of a local Subway restaurant that read, “Our subs don’t implode.” The sign referenced the “catastrophic implosion” that killed five passengers aboard the submersible on June 22 after they attempted to make their way to the Titanic wreckage.
The post invoked outrage from Mauck and numerous users on Facebook and Twitter.
“That’s really bad, bet the owner doesn’t know,” one Facebook user wrote.
Another Facebook user said it was “Kinda messed up.”
“That’s disrespectful as f***k! Bet if that was their family they wouldn’t t (sic) think it’s so funny,” another commented.
One Twitter user declared they will “never eat at Subway ever.”
“It is distasteful and disrespectful to families who lost loved ones,” they added.
Another Twitter user commented, “What an absolute disgrace for Subway to do this they should be ashamed that people lost there (sic) lives and they think its (sic) funny would they find as funny if this terrible disaster happened to them.”
“I agree that to me is (sic) them trying (sic) capitalize on a tragedy in (sic) disrespectful comical way the families should sue them!” one user wrote.
In a follow-up post, Mauck shared a photo of the same Subway sign blank.
“Well looky there…,” he wrote in the caption with laughing emojis.