{"id":283773,"date":"2026-07-01T17:01:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T17:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/283773\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T17:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T17:01:16","slug":"breaking-2-people-scale-the-empire-state-buildings-needle-to-wave-peace-banner-in-apparent-engagement-stunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/283773\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: 2 people scale the Empire State Building\u2019s needle to wave peace banner in apparent engagement stunt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2263499509.jpg\" class=\"crop-center wp-post-image\" alt=\"NYC skyline with Empire State Building\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"   title=\"BREAKING: 2 people scale the Empire State Building's needle to wave peace banner in apparent engagement stunt 1\"\/>\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The NYC skyline with the Empire State Building.<\/p>\n<p>Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>A death-defying couple climbed to the top of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esbnyc.com\/buy-tickets?utm_source=si-google&amp;utm_medium=si-cpc&amp;utm_campaign=si-core-brand&amp;utm_content=si-brand-researchers&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=10336423870&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjw9ZLSBhCcARIsAEhGKgNnS7v01OOH_V1Y3xIp7yBD0g7ldfGPHpUIAhPsjKzAN2W9Z0fZZoMaAmc0EALw_wcB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Empire State Building<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/amny.com\/manhattan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Midtown<\/a> on Wednesday to hang a banner promoting peace \u2014 and apparently become engaged.<\/p>\n<p>The two unidentified individuals somehow breached the spire on the 105th floor at 20 West 34th St. about 11:15 a.m. on July 1 and ascended the needle shortly thereafter.\n<\/p>\n<p>Wearing masks and black clothing, the daredevils got to the top of the needle, some 1,500 feet above the ground, and unfurled a black-and-white banner reading, \u201cIf the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As of 12:35 p.m., the pair of protesters had been clinging to the metal television antenna amid scorching temperatures for more than an hour. By then, numerous television news helicopters captured the incredible scene. The NYPD Aviation Unit also flew to the area to order the pair to come down.<\/p>\n<p>At that point, the pair began descending the needle, taking the banner with them. But things took an incredible turn moments later.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-137857272\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ESB-climbers-07012026.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"555\" height=\"595\" title=\"BREAKING: 2 people scale the Empire State Building's needle to wave peace banner in apparent engagement stunt 2\"  \/>Photo of the climbers on the Citizen app.\n<\/p>\n<p>The pair stopped at a platform below the needle for a lovestruck moment: TV cameras captured one of the individuals getting down on one knee to propose to his partner.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to reports, the partner said yes, proving that love was in the air. The partner appeared to embrace the other, then flash their ring for a cellphone picture\n<\/p>\n<p>The sky stunt won\u2019t last long, as both lovebirds are subject to arrest once they come down.\n<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday\u2019s affair appears to be one of the wildest stunts the city has seen in decades, rivaling the tightrope walk that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amny.com\/entertainment\/famed-tightrope-walker-philippe-petit-marks-50th-anniversary-of-historic-tightrope-walk-between-twin-towers-with-artistic-performance\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">artist Philippe Petit performed between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center<\/a>, a quarter-mile above the streets of Lower Manhattan, back in 1974.<\/p>\n<p>This is a developing story; check back for updates.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NYC skyline with the Empire State Building. Getty Images A death-defying couple climbed to the top of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[108837,58852,108838,12614,108839,108840,3412,9,108841,56,63,65,64,108842,108843,308,108844,108845,108846],"class_list":["post-283773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-banner-protest","tag-civil-disobedience","tag-daredevil-climbers","tag-empire-state-building","tag-extreme-activism","tag-high-risk-protest","tag-midtown-manhattan","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city-incident","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-peace-message","tag-protest-stunt","tag-public-safety","tag-rooftop-protest","tag-skyscraper-climb","tag-urban-protest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}