A years-old email dispute about booking the GlamBOT, popularized by red carpet shoots, resurfaced this week and quickly drew new attention.
Although the exchange dated back to 2019, a recent post revived it amid fresh scrutiny of current GlamBOT director Cole Walliser. Walliser had just addressed a separate viral video from the Golden Globes when people claimed Jennifer Lopez snubbed him.
On Jan 18, Yinka Animashaun (@YungYinkv) reposted an 11-email exchange that she said showed a rude tone during a quote request for booking the GlamBOT for her wedding.
While the interaction went nowhere, the language he used when responding to her enquiry stuck with her for going on seven years.
The 2019 email exchange that resurfaced
In her first email to Walliser, Animashaun asked, "Are you/the Glambot available for private events such as a wedding?" She provided as much information as she could, including dates, and asked for the director's rates for his time and the equipment rental.
Walliser thanked her for her interest and replied, "It is not cheap, if you feel like something like this might be within your budget range, then I am happy to discuss further."
She answered, "Yeah it’s something in my budget range :)." However, Walliser pushed back. "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," he wrote.
The exchange continued, and tension rose. When Animashaun said she would follow up by the end of the weekend, Walliser quoted a price. "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?" he asked. She replied, "Thanks Cole. I’ll reach out by Monday!"
Then Walliser responded sharply, writing, "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."
After the post circulated this week, people reacted strongly. @AminahDiamonds told Animashaun, "You gave him soooo much of your time, your class and patience is admirable! Does he just not want money? He could’ve just not responded omg."
Animashaun replied, "I was thirsty for the machine! 😭 literally just wanted the price and info… puzzled to this day about that response."
Why the drama gained traction now
The renewed interest came days after Walliser addressed claims that Jennifer Lopez had been rude to him at the Golden Globes on Jan 11. A behind-the-scenes clip showed Lopez turning away as he directed her, then posing and leaving with a wave. While commentators criticized her, Walliser disagreed.
"I didn't take it personally. It didn't feel rude in that moment," he said in a video posted on Instagram. While explaining, he added, "I think there's a couple things that added to the fuel of this idea. She’s just down to business… That moment didn't feel rude."
At the same time, people revisited who actually created the GlamBOT. Grammy-winning director Joseph Kahn reminded people on X, "Yes, I created it back in 2016 for E!."
He described designing the lighting and camera work, joking about winning a Grammy while operating it. Meanwhile, @lidolmix quote-tweeted him, asking, "do you do weddings?"
The scrutiny of Walliser's lack of professionalism didn’t stop there. @ivishyouwould added, "while we’re at it, can we also address him using GAI to generate a simple caption for a TikTok and not even bothering to remove the GAI response header."
The screenshot shared was from a TikTok video that Walliser posted of Hudson Williams at the Golden Globes. The young star of Heated Rivalry is staunchly opposed to generative AI and famously said, "F*ck AI" when asked his opinion about it at the awards ceremony.
Finally, photographer (and former America's Next Top Model judge) Nigel Barker stepped into the chat. His comment claims that the $300K estimate is not correct, and the cost was closer to $25K.
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