'Kind of scary': Most-followed YouTuber MrBeast declined riding doomed Titan submersible
MANILA, Philippines — Content creator and YouTube star MrBeast avoided catastrophe after declining to take a ride in the OceanGate Titan submersible which got lost and imploded in the ocean depths last week, killing its five passengers including OceanGate chief Stockton Rush.
MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, tweeted last Sunday a screenshot of a friend inviting him to see the Titanic in a submarine but he turned the offer down.
"I was invited earlier this month to ride the Titanic submarine, I said no. Kind of scary that I could have been on it," the 25-year-old MrBeast said in the tweet.
The readable portion of the screenshot MrBeast shared said, "Also, I'm going to the Titanic in a submarine late this month. The team would be stoked to have you along. I'm sure you're also welcome to join..." though he did not mention who sent him the message.
I was invited earlier this month to ride the titanic submarine, I said no. Kind of scary that I could have been on it pic.twitter.com/bQUnaRiczA
— MrBeast (@MrBeast) June 25, 2023
Other invididuals who shared they declined invititations to board the Titan were Las Vegas businessman Jay Bloom and his 20-year-old sun Sean, as invited by Rush, and Nigerian politician Ned Nwoko who was a close friend of British businessman Hamish Harding who was on the ill-fated submersible.
Last June 18, the OceanGate Titan submersible dove to see the wreckage of the Titanic but lost contact with the surface, leading to a days-long search before the submersible's oxygen would run out.
Last Thursday, OceanGate issued a statement that the five passengers — Rush, Harding, French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani-born businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman — were presumed to have died after the Titan had a "catastrophic implosion."
The incident was publicly watched globally and OceanGate received criticism for the submersible's safety issues and plain design, including being operated by a gaming console controller.
MrBeast is the most-followed creator on YouTube, with 163 million people subscribed to his channel as of writing.
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