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Emmy winner's sweet marriage proposal from stage sweeps awards

And the award for most romantic gesture at the 2018 Emmys goes to ... Glenn Weiss

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
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Valerie Macon / AFP/Getty Images

Step aside, all you lovers who think you've planned the best marriage proposal ever. Your Eiffel Tower getaway or rose-petal trail through the house can only come second to Monday night's very public proposal during the Primetime Emmy Awards.

Glenn Weiss won the Emmy for directing for a variety special for his work on The Oscars. But it's what he did after winning the statue that made headlines. Weiss shared that his mother had recently died, and noted that she "adored" his girlfriend Jan. Then, it happened.

"You wonder why I don't like to call you my girlfriend?" Weiss said to Jan in the audience. "Because I want to call you my wife."

His shocked girlfriend, identified by Entertainment Weekly as Jan Svendsen, then walked to the stage. Weiss dropped to one knee and presented her with his mother's ring, given her by his father 67 years ago. She said yes and the two kissed as the audience cheered.

Fans on social media oohed and aahed over the romantic proposal. Comedian Leslie Jones even tweeted a video of her reaction. "First of all, the man who's going to be with me, is going to propose to me on the Emmys," she said. "If you don't do that, then you ain't serious about our love. Real talk! Naw!"

Of course, not everyone was a romantic. Mike Drucker, a writer for Full Frontal With Samantha Bee, tweeted: "I'm not bitter about losing an Emmy tonight, but I may have shouted 'Say no' during the proposal."