Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus climb Empire State Building and pull off death-defying proposal: The 'Skywalkers' couple's stunt, explained 12%
By Neia Balao0%
7/2/2026, 8:08:14 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 14 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Negativity Bias, and Appeal to Emotion, with Appeal to Authority as the most egregious example at 31.8% saturation with 168 hits. Analysis detected 720 faulty-reasoning hits from 528 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 28.5% and a BS Rank of 12% (19,407 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 88.70% of the article peer group.
The couple that climbs a New York City landmark together … gets engaged.
The two masked climbers who scaled the Empire State Building on Wednesday have been identified as Ivan "Vanya" Beerkus and Angela Nikolau, stars of Netflix's 2024 documentary <em>Skywalkers: A Love Story</em>.
Beerkus and Nikolau were initially spotted 1,454 feet in the air atop the building's spire, prompting 911 calls to police at around 12 p.m.
ET, according to NBC New York.
During their death-defying escapade, the duo, dressed in black, unfurled a large pro-peace banner that read, "When the power of love beats the love of power, the world knows peace."
After 30 minutes on the spire, Beerkus and Nikolau climbed down onto a perch, where Beerkus dropped to one knee and proposed to Nikolau.
They proceeded with their descent around 10 minutes later.
The precarious climb drew even more attention due to rising temperatures in New York City as a dangerous heat wave grips the Midwest and eastern United States this week.
But Beerkus and Nikolau weren't necessarily caught in the scorching heat from that high up: According to AccuWeather meteorologists, temperatures at around 1,250 feet above ground were about 81 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit, while temperatures on the ground were in the lower 90s.
Winds at that height were 10 to 15 mph, per the weather forecasting company.
Beerkus and Nikolau were eventually taken into custody by the New York Police Department, but not before sharing photos of their dangerous climb on Instagram, including one of Nikolau's engagement ring.
The caption on the joint post simply read, "Empire State Building, New York."
After reviewing surveillance footage from the Empire State Building, the NYPD determined that the duo appeared to access the spire via the landmark's 102nd-floor maintenance hatch, according to a report from ABC's Eyewitness News.
The couple faces a series of charges, including burglary, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, violation of local law, possession of burglar's tools, criminal tampering, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct, according to CBS News.
Deadline confirmed that the stunt had no connection to Netflix.
But that didn't stop the streamer from capitalizing on the buzz.
Also chiming in on social media was the X account for the Empire State Building Observation Deck, which jokingly apologized to Madison Square Garden that it "had to make this week all about me."
The world-famous arena is where Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's Fourth of July weekend wedding is set to take place, according to a new report from the Associated Press.
The Russian couple, who began dating in 2016, has gained notoriety for their illegal "rooftopping" adventures.
The buildings they've previously climbed include the 1,957-foot Goldin Finance 117, China's tallest incomplete skyscraper, and Merdeka 118 in Malaysia, the second-tallest building in the world at 2,227 feet.
Their climb of Merdeka was documented in <em>Skywalkers: A Love Story</em>, which first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
"It gives me inspiration, it gives me motivation to live," Beerkus previously told the BBC of his thrill-seeking nature, to which Nikolau added, "Rooftopping is my art form."
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3speakers8.3%attributed speech484writer words
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100%flagged-word coverageIvan "Vanya" Beerkus
28 attributed words64% of attributed speech69% writer coverage
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