Singer Winnie Nwagi has weighed in on the growing trend of women rejecting marriage proposals in public, saying such moments should be handled with more kindness and respect.
The musician believes that while every woman has the right to decline a proposal, embarrassing a man in front of a crowd is unnecessary, especially if he has gone to great lengths to organise the surprise.
According to Nwagi, a woman who is not interested in marrying her partner should avoid rejecting him publicly. Instead, she says, she can accept the proposal in the moment and later have an honest, private conversation about her true feelings.
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“If you don’t want the guy, at least you can pretend and say yes, then explain everything to him after you’ve left the place. That kind of embarrassment is not really nice. It’s so mean,” she said.
Nwagi added that she would never publicly shame someone who had made such an effort to express their love.
“Personally, I wouldn’t do that to someone who has put in such effort. I’d stay calm in the moment, then we’d sort ourselves out afterwards in the most polite way possible,” she explained.
The singer also warned that the viral videos of rejected public proposals could discourage other men from making the same romantic gesture.
She believes men with low self-confidence may now fear proposing in public because they worry about becoming the next viral embarrassment.
“A guy out there with low self-esteem would never do it, even if he truly loves his woman. Not after all these videos going around. You’re going to make these men hate proposals,” Nwagi said.
