Brian Szasz attended a Blink-182 concert amid the news that his stepfather, Hamish Harding, was missing.
Brian Szasz's love of Blink-182 has been a controversial topic in recent days. The stepson of billionaire Hamish Harding, one of the presumed victims of the Titan submersible that failed to return from a trip to the wreckage site of the Titanic, got into hot water on Monday after first posting about his connection to the tragedy before sharing a since-deleted photo of himself at a Blink-182 concert in San Diego, California.
On Thursday, the same day that it was announced that all five passengers aboard the 21-foot submersible Titan were presumed dead, Szasz shared a screenshot of what appeared to be a direct message from Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker.
In the message, which was seemingly sent on Monday, Barker allegedly wrote with a prayer hands emoji, "Praying for you and your family." Szasz allegedly replied, "Thank you. I will be at the Sd show tonight."
Szasz tagged Barker in the alleged screenshot, adding, "Thanks for the love fam!"
Barker has not publicly confirmed nor denied whether he sent Szasz the DM, but Szasz got into hot water for attending Monday's show amid the news that his stepfather was missing.
Szasz defended his decision in a video posted on Wednesday, saying, "Believe it or not I have about $100 to my name. I can't go out to the ocean. I have a legal situation keeping me here as well. I can't get on a flight. I don't have a passport. I was sitting here yesterday watching the news for two days straight. I go to a Blink-182 show because I have a ticket. It wasn't like I was having super fun, it wasn't like I was celebrating having a great time. I was just listening to some of my all-time favorite songs just nodding my head and just trying to get off the phone for maybe two hours or so and come right back into the drama. The submarine is stuck at the damn Titanic. There's nothing I can do for the situation at all."
Rapper Cardi B weighed in on the controversy, saying, "People is like, 'Well what is he supposed to do? Be sad at the house? Is he supposed to go look for himself?' Yes. You supposed to be at the house sad. You supposed to be crying for me. You supposed to be right next to the phone waiting to hear any updates about me."
Szasz directly addressed the rapper's comments, replying, "So you take a complete b**ch like Cardi B, has no idea what's going on, her career is in such turmoil she needs clout off other people's suffering... tries to use the situation to exploit. They're not feeling sorry that my mom has to take care of two kids, not really giving a f**k that my stepdad is probably 99 percent chance he's dead. That doesn't matter... Cardi B, f**king grow up, get some class, you're tasteless."
On Thursday, Rear Admiral John Mauger, the commander of the U.S. Coast Guard leading the search, announced at a news conference in Boston, Massachusetts, that an ROV -- or a remote operated vehicle -- found "five major pieces of debris" that is consistent with the "catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber." He added that the vessel was found 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic. The nose cone was among the five major pieces of debris found.
Mauger said that, upon this determination, the Coast Guard immediately notified the families, and he offered his "deepest condolences."
"I can only imagine what this has been like for them," he added. "And I hope that this discovery provides some solace during this difficult time."
Mauger said a timeline has not yet been established as to when exactly the vessel imploded, adding that "it's too early to tell." As for recovery of the bodies, Mauger said that it will take some time given "this is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the sea floor."
"The debris is consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel so we'll continue to work and continue to search the area down there, but I don't have an answer for prospects at this time," Mauger said.
In a statement to ET, a spokesperson for OceanGate Expeditions said, "We now believe that our CEO Stockton Rush, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, have sadly been lost."
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