The associate editor of niche news website Crikey has posted a series of disgusting social media comments mocking the five men trapped on the Titan submersible.
While the world waited for news of the vessel’s fate, Cam Wilson chose to joke about how the missing adventurers might be spending what could be their last hours.
‘If you were stuck in this doomed, lost submarine, what would you do for you last 48 hours of oxygen,’ Wilson tweeted on Tuesday afternoon.
Two hours later he answered his own question with a follow-up comment: ‘A lot of you said j***ing off. The question I put to you is: What’s stopping you now?’
Cam Wilson, associate editor of niche news website Crikey, has posted a series of insensitive social media comments mocking the five men trapped on the Titan submersible
While the world waited for news of the vessel’s fate, Cam Wilson chose to joke about how the missing adventurers might be spending what could be their last hours
In another tweet that day, Wilson said: ‘It’s time to disrupt the doomed submarine market.
‘Those fat cats have had it too good for too long. I’m undercutting them by offering to cut off your oxygen supply and turn off the lights for a mere $240k.’
Wilson, an alumnus of $37,000-a-year private school Knox Grammar, primarily covers ‘internet culture and tech’ for Crikey and has previously worked for the ABC.
On Tuesday night Wilson was at it again, this time posting: ‘Gotta say, boarding a submarine for 250K only to die from suffocation in the depths of the oceans 96 hours later is NOT very padam padam.’
That last phrase is an onomatopoeic rendering of a beating heart, as well as the title of Kylie Minogue’s latest hit single, and has since taken on variously defined positive meanings.
When Daily Mail Australia contacted Wilson about his Titan commentary, first reported by Sky News, he said he would reply via email after claiming his tweets ‘obviously aren’t affiliated with work’.
He then responded without addressing whether his tweets reflected poorly on Crikey, and instead referred to an erroneous story the website recently published.
Titan, which is operated by private submersibles company OceanGate, disappeared in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland on Sunday night. The sub is pictured
‘Those fat cats have had it too good for too long. I’m undercutting them by offering to cut off your oxygen supply and turn off the lights for a mere $240k,’ Wilson tweeted
That story, written by Wilson, wrongly accused a Daily Mail Australia journalist of being behind an extremist troll Twitter account.
Daily Mail Australia immediately conducted a thorough investigation into Wilson’s claims about the journalist and found them to be false.
Crikey editor Gina Rushton was also contacted for comment about Wilson’s tweets.
Titan, which is operated by private submersibles company OceanGate, disappeared in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland on Sunday night.
On board were five passengers, including tourists who had paid US$250,000 to view the wreck of RMS Titanic, which sank with the loss of more than 1,500 lives in 1912.
On Wednesday morning, as Titan could still not be located and hopes were fading for its occupants, Wilson turned to Twitter again.
‘I know the location of the oceangate submarine but I’m not saying because someone on board was mean to me,’ he wrote.
Social media users were not amused by Wilson’s running commentary of the drama, with one responding: ‘All I can think of is I’m glad they can’t read the tweets.’
British billionaire Hamish Harding (right) is one of the five men who went missing on the OceanGate tourist submersible on Sunday. OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush (left) is also on board
Shahzada Dawood, 48, a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19 (both left), are among the five people trapped in the sub. French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet (right) is also aboard
On Wednesday morning, as Titan could still not be located and hopes were fading for its for its occupants, Wilson turned to Twitter again
Another wrote: ‘Given Crikey’s recent disgraceful article by Guy Rundle I would think you would be more careful and aware. But obviously not.’
On Friday, Crikey retracted an opinion piece it had published calling into question Brittany Higgins’s taxpayer-funded payout which it estimated to have been $3million.
Some parts of the piece are too offensive to republish.
The former Liberal staffer and her fiancé David Sharaz lashed out at the subscription-based left-wing website after publication of the piece.
Ms Higgins launched legal action against the Morrison government after airing allegations her then colleague Bruce Lehrmann sexually assaulted her in Senator Linda Reynolds’ office in Parliament House in 2019.
Mr Lehrmann, who has always denied the allegations, faced a rape trial which was aborted due to a juror’s misconduct and charges against him were dropped.
Ms Higgins was awarded compensation by the incoming Albanese government after she and the Commonwealth reached an agreement over a personal injury claim in December 2022.
An opinion piece journalist Guy Rundle wrote for Crikey argued Ms Higgins belonged to a ‘well-connected network’ and the compensation was fast-tracked by Labor for its own political purposes.
Crikey soon removed the article from its website and apologised to readers.
Rundle’s article said while Ms Higgins ‘may still be a victim of crime’, leaked texts suggest…. she and her partner ‘ran a sustained, planned and strategised media campaign around her accusations.’
Brittany Higgins and her fiancé David Sharaz (pictured) hit out at fringe online site, Crikey, last week
‘We’re generally required to leave our brains at the office door in these matters. However, we’re not required to leave our brains at the security entrance in the little plastic dish, with our keys and phone,’ Rundle wrote.
‘Higgins and co did what their role as political advisers trained them to do: they strategised with their assets to maximum advantage…
‘We’re entitled to read the texts that led up to it.’
Ms Higgins quickly fired up her Twitter to condemn the article, which referenced publicised CCTV footage of Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann passing through Parliament House security on the night in question.
”We’re not required to leave our brains at the security entrance…”,’ Ms Higgins wrote.
‘Wow. Pithy but disgusting given the context.’
Sharaz quickly piled on, tagging the boss of Crikey’s parent company, Will Hayward, in the comments.
Guy Rundle (pictured) authored an opinion piece calling into question the circumstances surrounding Ms Higgins’ multimillion-dollar compensation payout
‘@mrwillhayward Are you happy with this victim-blaming bile being on your website?’ he wrote.
Both fans and critics flocked to the comments of Ms Higgins’ tweet, with some vowing to boycott Crikey while others claimed ‘taxpayers are the real victims’.
In the article, Rundle claimed the case was not a matter of public interest until Ms Higgins received the payment, which he argues gave the perception the procedural process was bias.
Rundle also speculated on how Ms Higgins may have used the funds, suggesting she may have splurged on designer shoes.
Referencing an article titled ‘I would not walk a mile in Brittany Higgins’ shoes’ written by his colleague Michael Bradley, Rundle suggested it would hardly be possible for Bradley to do so as ‘they may well be $5,000 Louboutins’.
A statement on the publisher’s website said: ‘Crikey has made the decision today to remove a piece written by Guy Rundle that asserted the consultation process over Brittany Higgins’ compensation was “stunningly rapid”.
‘That is not correct – Higgins lodged her claim in March 2022 while the Morrison government was still in office, and it was not settled until December 2022, seven months after the election of the current government.
‘The piece also repeats the false assertion that the “figure is believed to be $3 million”.
Ms Higgins and her fiancé slammed the article in the above tweets
‘There is no factual basis for the $3 million figure; Higgins has publicly said that figure was her initial claim but that the final figure was much lower than that.
‘In addition to these factual errors, the tone of the piece did not meet Crikey’s journalistic standards, crucially given that it concerns writing about allegations of sexual assault.
‘We firmly believe in promoting a space that publishes a plurality of views, and as editors we regularly publish opinion pieces that we may personally disagree with.
‘But this piece doesn’t fall into that category, and we regret publishing it. We have consistently pointed to the flawed coverage of News Corp on this issue, only to then join it in making that same mistake ourselves.
‘We apologise to Brittany Higgins and our readers and we will update you on a continuing conversation around this issue.’
Wilson reacted to his employer pulling the Higgins piece with a statement on Twitter on Monday.
‘I strongly support the decision to remove the article,’ he wrote. ‘I want to see changes to ensure Crikey never publishes something like this again.’
