Man proposes to girlfriend during graduation ceremony, receives backlash for trying upstage her

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Bad timing or nah? Feminists are accusing a man of trying to steal his girlfriend’s shine after he popped the question during her college graduation.

Marquell Hall had just received her degree earlier this month from Southern University in Baton Rouge Louisiana, when her boyfriend, James Clark, announced to a group of family and friends that he had a “special graduation present,” reports the Daily Mail.

In the video, which has already racked up over 2.6 million views, Clark is shown saying, “Can I just say something real quick? I’m just so proud of my gorgeous, intelligent girlfriend. She put so much work in, long nights of studying, working hard, so it’s so beautiful to see you make it to this moment.” Moments later, Clark gets down on one knee, pulls out a ring and asks: “Will you marry me?” to which Hall responded “yes.”

Baby, I love you with everything in me..who would’ve thought we’d make it this far? 6 years ago I asked you to be my girlfriend in the halls of Dutchtown High and here you are today MY FIANCÈ! Congrats on graduating today! Now we can put all the things we talked about in play❤ pic.twitter.com/hZhwDwa4ZK

— JuicemanJames (@_JayClark_) May 11, 2018

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Now, Clark, a 23-year-old graduate of Louisiana State University, is facing backlash and being accused of attempting to diminish his girlfriend’s accomplishments as a new grad.

“Fellas, he took a moment that was all about and made it about them thus diverting some of the shine away from her and her major accomplishment,” wrote Twitter user @paidchex. “That is selfish. Not completely selfish but selfish nonetheless. Her lack of enthusiasm seems to validate this was poorly timed.”

Another person @baddtotheboney tweeted, “Stop proposing to women during celebrations of their accomplishments and dimming their lights.”

“Men never take a day off from being manipulative trash,” another user wrote.

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Interestingly enough, Hall didn’t seem to mind getting engaged on her graduation day. “I wasn’t hesitant, I wasn’t uncertain,” Hall said during an interview with Inside Edition. “I was shocked because I was just like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe this is actually happening,’” adding that she and her fiancé are “extremely happy!”