Couple Arrested For Zany Proposal Atop Empire State Building

July began just as wild as the previous month did in New York City, thanks to a couple who brazenly scaled the Empire State Building and captured it on social media, leading to their arrest by New York Police Department officers.

The pair were identified as Ivan Kuznetsov (aka Beerkus), 32, and Angelina Nikolau, 33, of East Orange, New Jersey. The couple climbed the 200-foot antenna of the Empire State Building, where they unfurled a black banner that read: “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace.”

Kuznetsov and Nikolau are famous for “rooftopping,” which is the practice of unsecured climbing of rooftops and skyscrapers. They were featured in the 2024 Netflix documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story, which culminated in the two climbing the Merdeka 118 Tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. That building is the second-tallest in the world after the Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates.

Kuznetsov was shown on news cameras kneeling to propose to Nikolau. An Instagram account belonging to Nikolau showed the moment, 1,450 feet above New York City, as well as a photo of her displaying the engagement ring.