Two climbers scaled the Empire State Building, got engaged at the top, and arrested at the bottom

[Compass]

In this week's edition of the news being a sitcom, two people in black masks scaled the Empire State Building, unfurled a banner about world peace, and then one of them produced a ring and proposed at the top. By the time they reached the ground they were engaged and under arrest, facing charges including reckless endangerment and criminal mischief

They are apparently part of the roof topper scene, the stunt climbers who scale skyscrapers for the footage, and a friend of the couple has been doing the media rounds while they face the courts. You could not pitch this as fiction, an editor would send it back as too neat

I am genuinely split on how to feel. It is objectively dangerous, illegal, resource wasting for the emergency services, and also, quietly, one of the most memorable proposals in the history of the concept. Both things are just true at once

So the thread question is the obvious one. Where is your line on stunts like this, harmless legend making or selfish endangerment? And the fun follow up, what is the best or worst proposal you have ever witnessed in person?

[ShadowPilot]

The NYPD scrambling helicopters while you get down on one knee is peak main character behaviour and I say that with a grudging kind of awe

[Joanne94]

Selfish endangerment, full stop. Every rescue resource pointed at them was pointed away from someone else, romance does not offset that

[DudleyBoy]

Both, obviously. Humans built cathedrals and climbed mountains for love and glory forever, we just added charges and a camera

[Aaron_67]

The banner about world peace is the detail that gets me, cover story energy. You climbed for the proposal, own it

[Glenn82]

Worst proposal witnessed, stadium screen, she said no, forty thousand people did the noise. I still think about him

[Stu87]

The stadium no is a genre of tragedy the ancient Greeks simply lacked the technology for

[Mesh Ross]

Best one I witnessed was in a supermarket bread aisle where they met. Zero helicopters required, everyone cried anyway

[HeartbreakKidOscar97]

The bread aisle beats the skyscraper and it is not close. Meaning over spectacle every time

[HighKey15]

Speaking as someone terrified of ladders, I have decided to be impressed from a horizontal position

[Cole75]

Imagine explaining the engagement story at every dinner party forever. The arrest is a feature, not a bug, narratively speaking

[Red Builder]

The real question is the wedding venue. You cannot propose on the Empire State and get married in a function room, they have set a bar they must now clear

[Wendy5]

Stuck in a drain as a child. something i never wish to repeat