GlamBOT Photographer Faces Backlash Over ‘Rude Emails’ to Bride Who Tried to Book Famed Camera
The photographer behind the GlamBOT — the high-speed camera that captures slow-motion videos on award-show red carpets — has come under fire after alleged emails surfaced in which he questioned whether a bride could afford to book the camera for her wedding.
Canadian filmmaker and photographer Cole Walliser has become an online sensation as the man behind E! Entertainment’s GlamBOT camera on the red carpet.
But he is now is facing criticism on social media after screenshots of a 2019 email exchange surfaced online. The emails, reviewed by the news outlet PEOPLE, show Walliser corresponding with a potential client who inquired about privately booking the GlamBOT for her wedding. In the correspondence, Walliser questions whether the bride could afford to book the prestigious camera system.
In the 11-email exchange shared online, bride Yinka Animashaun reached out to Walliser in 2019 to ask whether the GlamBOT was available for private events.
“Are you/the GlamBOT available for private events such as a wedding?” Animashaun wrote in her first email. “I’d love to have you at mine September 20th and September 22nd. Please let me know your availability and rates!”
Walliser responded by explaining the scale of the production and its cost, writing: “Just so you are aware, the Glambot is a camera system and personnel used by a network television station for one of the biggest red carpets of the year… It is not cheap, if you feel like something like this might be within your budget range, then I am happy to discuss further.”
Animashaun replied with a smiling emoji: “Yeah it’s something in my budget range.”
Walliser then responded to her: “I don’t see how you could be since I didn’t say how much it was and could be between $10,000 and $1,000,000.”
‘You Don’t Need to Pretend You are Going to Book it’
When Animashaun assured Walliser that this price range was acceptable, the photographer again raised doubts about whether she was serious.
Walliser wrote to the bride: “It’s $300,000 I’ll take a 10% deposit to secure the gear and once I have the deposit I can do a contract. Ready to get started?” Tp which, Animashaun replied: “Thanks Cole. I’ll reach out by Monday!”
Walliser then sent another email to Animashaun, saying: “If you wanted to know how much it costs you just needed to ask, you don’t need to pretend you are going to book it.”
According to multiple reports online, Animashaun, who is from Nigeria, and her husband Nitin Sikka, who is Indian, went on to host an elaborate multicultural wedding featuring three separate ceremonies in one day. The wedding took place on November 23, 2019, at the Westin Stonebriar Hotel & Golf Club in Dallas, Texas.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Animashaun said she shared the “unprofessional and unkind” email exchange publicly in the hope that Walliser would reflect on how he treats potential clients.
“As a Black woman I am no stranger to people making assumptions about who I am or what I am capable of, but I think his responses to me were exceptionally unprofessional and unkind,” she tells the outlet. “I was preparing for one of the best days of my life, and to this day, his response shocks me. That isn’t how you speak to a potential client or people in general. Hopefully my sharing this can be a learning experience for him and enable him [to] be better or at least a bit more kind.”
The resurfacing of the email exchange comes shortly after Walliser publicly denied claims that Jennifer Lopez was rude to him during her GlamBOT shoot at the Golden Globes. Walliser posted a video to Instagram addressing viral accusations about the interaction and defending Lopez’s behaviour on the red carpet.
