Boyfriend who proposed to his childhood sweetheart during her graduation is blasted for ‘hijacking’ her big moment
A BOYFRIEND has been accused of ‘hijacking’ his girlfriend’s graduation ceremony by proposing to her while on stage. Edgaras Averbuchas, 27, chose the moment Agne Banuskeviciute was receiving her degree to get down on one knee, in front of her friends and family. Agne, who had no idea her boyfriend was planning a proposal, was […]
A BOYFRIEND has been accused of ‘hijacking’ his girlfriend’s graduation ceremony by proposing to her while on stage.
Edgaras Averbuchas, 27, chose the moment Agne Banuskeviciute was receiving her degree to get down on one knee, in front of her friends and family.
Agne, who had no idea her boyfriend was planning a proposal, was graduating from her masters in Masters degree in English Language and Applied Linguistics from the University of Essex.
The university shared a video of the moment Edgaras popped the question on Twitter, but they were forced to delete it after receiving a massive backlash.
While Agne, 25, said yes, Edgaras’ romantic gesture has been slammed online for putting her in an awkward situation, as well potentially ruining the ceremony for the other students.
Commenting on social media, Dr Jana Bacevic, of the University of Cambridge, tweeted: “Imagine being a man and feeling so threatened by a woman’s intellectual success that you *have* to force her to frame her identity/agency in relation to *you* on the very day she is being celebrated for her intellect.
“Oh wait, that’s, like, 99.9 per cent men.”
And Sara Jayne Atkinson posted: “Hijacked her graduation. Years of hard work and now we’re all supposed to be pleased for her.
“Not because of her achievement, but because she got her man. Bad form.”
Someone else wrote: “Also disrespectful to the other graduates. No matter if you got the highest First class degree in the year, everyone’s just going to remember the Bloke With A Ring.”
While this person added: “You should not have let him do this it was disrespectful to his girlfriend & other students.
“It was a coercive act, what if she was not ready to say yes?
“The pressure not to disappoint would have been enormous & embarrassing. The attention should be on the students’ achievements.”
Despite the backlash, Agne says she’s delighted with the engagement after she and her fiancé met nine years ago, in secondary school.
She said: “I remember myself standing on the stage. I was a little bit nervous, but extremely happy.
“Then, all of a sudden I saw Edgaras coming, but everything happened so quickly that it took me some time to understand what actually happened.
“He knelt on one knee and asked me to marry him. I was in so much shock and of course I said yes.
“Everyone cheered and it was an amazing proposal which truly took me by surprise.
“Well, I knew something was up but didn’t have a clue.”
Amid claims Edgaras stole her thunder, Agne said it made the day extra special.
She added: “That’s so strange that Edgaras was getting a lot of criticism from people.
“Well, I think that this day became even more beautiful with this proposal.”
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