Loose Women panellist Charlene White has defended tweets posted by the stepson of Titanic submersible adventurer Hamish Harding.
Brian Szasz attracted criticism after sharing a picture of himself on Twitter attending a concert for the pop-punk band Blink-182 not long after the news broke that his stepfather was missing aboard the OceanGate Expeditions vessel named Titan.
Mr Harding and the four others who joined him on the craft – Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood, French Navy veteran Paul-Henri Nargeolet and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush – are now believed to have died from a “catastrophic implosion” of their vessel.
But Charlene defended Brian’s actions as she discussed the tragedy on an episode of the popular ITV daytime show.
“There’s been a lot of talk about the stepson of Hamish Harding, he’s had a mixed response from the public,” she said. “He’s been posting tweets which he has now actually taken down regarding his step-father.
READ MORE: Piers Morgan’s response to ‘puerile’ tweets about Titan sub passengers
“He had been going to, a concert, he went to a concert, a Blink-182 concert, he had been tweeting about being at this concert but also asking people for their prayers and saying ‘this is the way I cope as I want to go and see my favourite band play.'”
She added: “It comes under, I think, the umbrella of people deal with things differently and we can’t expect everybody to react the same exact same way to every situation.”
Brian has subsequently deleted his Twitter account after a furious response by some users of the social media platform.
Before deleting his Twitter account, Brian explained his reasons for attending the gig while acknowledging that some people would view his decision as “distasteful”.
Alongside a photo of himself at a merchandise stand, he wrote: “It might be distasteful being here but my family would want me to be at the Blink-182 show as it’s my favourite band and music helps me in difficult times!”
He finished the tweet with a black heart and praying hands emojis.
