The man who had his proposal interrupted by a Disneyland employee in a now-viral video has now spoken out about his version of events.
Over the weekend, a video went viral on social media showing the moment an employee at Disneyland Paris interrupted a guest's proposal to his girlfriend in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle.
The video was originally shared on Reddit by user 'wasgehtlan', who captioned the clip: "POS [piece of s***] destroyed my best friends moment. He asked for permission beforehand." It was later shared across multiple social media platforms.
Watch the disastrous proposal unfold below:In the video, a man dressed in white can be seen standing with his partner on an elevated stage in front of the castle. He then drops down to one knee, ring in hand, in order to ask for her hand in marriage. However, a Disneyland cast member then runs onto the stage, takes the engagement ring, and walks away - gesturing for the couple to follow him.
Towards the end of the video, it appears as if the man is trying to tell the employee that another cast member had given him permission to use the stage, but the employee simply tells him: "Yes, that's great. But over here will be even better."
After the video went viral, there were many comments on Reddit calling for the employee to be fired, with people branding his actions as "ridiculous" and saying that he "ruined the magic" of the parks.
Disney would later apologize to the couple, sharing the following statement to Newsweek:
"We regret how this was handled. We have apologized to the couple involved and offered to make it right."
Now, the guy in the video has spoken to The New York Times about what actually went down in the park.
Going only by the name Ante in order to protect his fiancée's privacy, the man revealed to the newspaper that he had been planning the proposal for months - agonizing over where would be the best place to pop the question.
The 31-year-old from Stuttgart, Germany, then revealed that both he and his partner were left saddened and perplexed by the employee's actions.
"Disneyland stands for dreams," he told The Post. "Our moment was destroyed."
Ante said that he was too excited to wait for the fireworks show, and instead decided to ask permission from one of the other employees about whether or not he could use the staging for his romantic proposal.
The Post adds that Disney did not immediately comment on whether or not this is the case.
After being ushered off the stage, the couple sat down on a nearby bench and watched the footage back on Ante's phone. He adds that he was even unsure over whether or not his partner had said yes - but fortunately she did and he was able to place the ring on her finger.
"She was at the same time very happy and sad," Ante told The Post.
Ante added that Disney has indeed reached out to the couple by phone and email to both apologize and offer the couple a free weekend stay at the park.
However, while Ante and his new fiancée appreciated the apology, they declined the offer, saying: "I don’t want to visit Disneyland anymore."
He added that all he wanted was a second chance to once again propose to his partner - something he believes Disney is unable to provide.