A young basketball fan at a college game in Los Angeles has been embarrassingly refused by his girlfriend when he made proposal in front of a stadium of booing spectators.

The pair was captured on the stadium camera during the half-time entertainment during a game between UCLA and Richmond on December 23.

The crowd watched the scene unfold as the young man knelt down to ask for his girlfriend’s hand.

A young basketball fan at a college game in Los Angeles has been embarrassingly refused by his girlfriend when he made proposal in front of a stadium of booing spectators

Initially showing great excitement at being given the chance to kiss her partner on the big screen, she affectionately reached for his face with a big smile.

But as the young man stood up and the UCLA host came over to offer him the microphone, her smile turned into a look of mild confusion and surprise.

Her boyfriend then reached into his pocket, produced a box and said: “I knew that I was going to do this since the first day that I met you, and I figured now was as good a time as any.”

When he opened the box to present the ring, the young woman’s attitude appeared to change.

She asked him a barely audible question which could have been: “Is this a joke?” To which he quite clearly replied: “No, it’s serious.”

The girlfriend hesitated for a moment and then picking up her bag, left the scene in a hurry.

Offering words of consolation the host said: “Sometimes we get a little camera shy,” but the rejected lover departed shortly after with his head hanging low in shame.

Several blogs are now debating whether the proposal was even genuine, since couples have been known to stage such performances at basketball and hockey games in the past.

Also up for debate is whether, since what is intended to be a romantic gesture can quickly become a spectacle of public ridicule, proposing in front of an audience is a clever idea at all.

The Los Angeles Times confirmed that a UCLA spokesman had said the proposal was not staged.

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