Undoubtedly, the most talked-about news story this month has been the tragedy involving the Titan, a submersible that imploded while on its journey to visit the wreck of the Titanic, leaving five people dead. Now, one of the most popular internet stars ever, MrBeast, is saying he could have been on board, recalling he was invited to partake in the trip to the sunken Titanic.
In a Twitter post from this week, MrBeast said he turned down the offer to visit the RMS Titanic, which famously sank in 1912. In the post, he wrote, “I was invited earlier this month to ride the titanic submarine, I said no. Kind of scary that I could have been on it”.
Aside from MrBeast, the doomed mission to see the Titanic in person has captured the imagination, theories and, yes, memes of the internet. Even none other than Titanic director James Cameron weighed in on the Titan story. “I’m struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself…Where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field.” He added, “As a submersible designer myself, I designed and built us up to go to the deepest place in the ocean three times deeper than Titanic…I understand the engineering problems associated with building this type of vehicle and all the safety protocols that you have to go through.”
Such comments from Cameron have been criticized widely online as tone-deaf. And not surprisingly, MrBeast’s claims that he was invited to go 2,100 fathoms to see (and document on YouTube?) the wreck of the Titanic – particularly based on how his attached image on Twitter is unusually cropped – have faced scrutiny. With 162 million followers, MrBeast is the most subscribed-to non-brand channel on YouTube, so it’s almost guaranteed that he has his share of doubters. Some have noted that the statement from MrBeast calls to mind the short but incredible list of celebrities who missed flights on 9/11, including Seth MacFarlane and Mark Wahlberg.
MrBeast has branched out considerably as of late, even collaborating with Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer.
What are your thoughts on the Titan story that has taken over the news over the past week? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.