Daredevil lovebirds who scaled Empire State Building finally speak out on wild stunt
Daredevil lovebirds who scaled Empire State Building finally speak out on wild stunt
Carsen HoladayWed, November 11, 2026 at 4:48 PM UTC
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Ivan Kuznetsov and Angela Nikolau are due in court Thursday (AFP/Getty)
The daredevil couple who climbed the Empire State Building this summer is finally speaking out.
Angelina Nikolau and Ivan Kuznetsov made headlines in July when they scaled the iconic New York City skyscraper and unfurled a large banner that read, “When the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace.”
Now, the death-defying duo has opened up in a new interview with ABC News, with Kuznetsov saying on Good Morning America Tuesday: “We didn’t think about it. We think about how to show this message to the world. That’s it.”
Kuznetsov, who appeared to propose to Nikolau on top of the 1,454-foot tower before they were arrested, acknowledged the danger of the stunt on the broadcast and went on to warn other adrenaline seekers not to try it themselves.
"We know how dangerous it is," Kuznetsov said. "We know that it's deadly dangerous and we actually want to say to people that don't try to repeat it, because we've been doing it for 15 years. And maybe you should find another way to express yourself about love. There are a lot of ideas to express ourselves. We just do it by our own way.”
Ivan Kuznetsov and Angela Nikolau scaled the Empire State Building in July (Fox News)
The couple are the subjects of 2024 Netflix documentary Skywalkers: A Love Story, which chronicles their years of “rooftopping” adventures as well as their romance.
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Nikolau told the outlet: “This is performance. When artists do, it's real and to be in a real moment without fake, it is a real performance.”
Kuznetsov and Nikolau allegedly bought tickets for the Empire State Building the day before the climb, and secretly spent the night inside the tower.
The couple, who are from Russia and in the U.S. on a talent visa, are accused of using tools to loosen brackets on the 104th floor to climb up the building’s broadcast antenna after a security camera caught them sneaking onto the 102nd floor.
They are due in Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday as they face multiple felony charges including burglary and reckless endangerment.
Kuznetsov said the lovebirds are both “ready to take responsibility for what we did,” and apologized specifically to two police officers who caught them at the top of the building.
“When we met with them at the top and he asked, ‘Are you okay?’ I said, ‘Yes, yes.’ They were so kind, professional,” he said.
Individually and as a couple, Kuznetsov and Nikolau have built an international following by climbing some of the most high-security structures across Europe and Asia.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
