Subway restaurant in Georgia removes 'distasteful' sign mocking the fate of the Titan submarine

All communication was lost with the OceanGate Titan submersible and its five passengers on June 18. The missing ship reportedly suffered a "catastrophic implosion," resulting in the deaths of all aboard.

The craft's remains were found 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic, according to U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger. Presumed human remains were also reportedly recovered and returned to land last week.

Both before and after the revelation that there were no survivors, myriad exploitative memes circulated online poking fun at the expense of the doomed voyage.

It appears as though one of those memes made its way into the real world and back.

A Subway restaurant in Rincon, Georgia, appeared to mock the Titan and its demise on its exterior sign, visible from Highway 21.

The sign read, "Our subs don't implode."

WTOC 11 indicated it had reached out to the store after receiving several messages in reference to the sign, all stressing that it was in bad taste.

The store manager revealed that the sign had ultimatley been taken down in response to the backlash.

Georgia resident Timothy Mauck, among the first to snap a photo of the sign prior to its removal, told USA Today, "I’m sure it would be disrespectful to the family, you know what I mean? ... It was a very uncalled for kind of thing because that’s a place of business, and for one of their employees to put that up on their sign that only lets everybody know that the situation is a joke."

Popular Twitter user @kirawontmiss wrote, "subway going to hell."

Amanda Butler posted a photo of the sign with the caption, "Not only is it distasteful, it's just sad. Do better."

While many apparently shared Butler's view that it was an insensitive, an image of the sign posted to Reddit with the caption, "Alright, who did it?" elicited a largely supportive response, with commenters lauding the dark humor.

The company has reportedly confirmed that the sign was real and has been taken down.

"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," a Subway spokesman told Fox Business. "The sign has since been removed."

Newsweek highlighted that this is not the first time the company has faced a PR crisis.

Subway's former spokesman Jared Fogle, who appeared in over 300 of the chain's commercials, was arrested in 2015 following an FBI investigation and raid of his home in Indiana. He later pleaded guilty to possession or distribution of child pornography and traveling across state lines to have sex with minors, reported CBS News.

The New York Post indicated that the former Subway spokesman was accused of having around 400 child-porn videos in his possession.

Fogle agreed to pay $1.4 million in restitution to 14 minor victims and was registered as a sex offender. He is serving a 15-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Englewood, Colorado.

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