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Subway sign referencing Titan implosion sparks controversy

Subway has contacted the management of the Georgia location (not pictured), and the sign has since been removed. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

RINCON, Ga. (WSAV/NEXSTAR) — A sign posted in front of a Subway restaurant in Georgia is leaving a bad taste in peoples’ mouths.

“Our subs don’t implode,” read the sign, a reference to the Titan submersible implosion that claimed the lives of its five occupants on June 18.


Resident Timothy Mauck spotted the sign outside a Subway in Rincon last week, snapping a picture and posting the image on Facebook. He also encouraged his followers to share the post in the hopes Subway’s corporate headquarters be made aware.

The message has been removed from the sign outside the Rincon Subway location, the company confirmed. (Timothy Mauck)

The image soon went viral, with some saying they found the sign to be “disrespectful” or “messed up.” But others, according to Mauck, reached out to berate him for being too sensitive or not finding the sign at all amusing.

Those people saw the sign “as a joke,” said Mauck, who told Nexstar that he had been harassed online “because I have some respect and have sympathy for the families.”

“There’s just a lot of people … that are just ignorant and have no type of remorse,” he added.

Mauck, the day after uploading the photo to Facebook, noted that the submarine reference had been removed from the Rincon Subway’s sign.

Subway’s corporate office, too, confirmed that the company had spoken with the location’s management.

“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,” Subway stated. “The sign has since been removed.”