He's the famed Glambot director whose slow-mo videos of celebs go viral. But now, as he's forced to apologize for leaked emails... nasty rumors are swirling
Cole Walliser, the manpower behind the 'Glambot' red-carpet camera which has quickly become a mainstay of Hollywood award shows, has mixed and mingled with some of the world's biggest A-listers.
But it appears that those interactions with the entertainment industry's brightest and best have given him an elitist edge.
The 44-year-old shot to fame in 2016 when his novel videos of celebrities posing on red carpets went viral. Using a Glambot - essentially a camera mounted on a robotic arm that moves at high speed toward a posing star - Walliser captures dynamic footage of his celebrity subjects that is then edited into slow-motion short clips that are easily shared on social media.
They are often comic or highly glamorous, with a cinema-like quality.
The shooting style was actually developed by music video director Joseph Kahn in 2016 for the purpose of enhancing E! Entertainment's red carpet coverage.
Walliser then took over as the robot's operator, and has been instructing some of the world's most famous celebrities on how to strike a pose ever since.
The Canada native made headlines last week, however, when footage of an awkward interaction with Jennifer Lopez at the 2026 Golden Globes went viral - for all the wrong reasons.
Cole Walliser (pictured in January 2026) is under fire for allegedly sending 'rude' emails to two potential clients in 2019
Viewers were left fuming after the tightly edited video shared online appeared to show Jennifer Lopez 'ignore' Walliser as he prepped her for the Glambot shot (pictured)
Lopez's interaction with E!'s Glambot director Cole Walliser on the Golden Globes red carpet last week (pictured) went viral for all the wrong reasons
Some commenters slammed the singer as 'rude' and 'nasty' for the way she appeared to dismiss Walliser as he was instructing her on how to pose.
Things got so bad that Walliser took to Instagram to insist to his 4.7 million followers that the interaction with Lopez 'didn't feel rude in that moment'.
Things took a further turn, however, when one woman used the viral opportunity to share what she described as Walliser's own 'rude' behavior back in 2019.
On January 18, Yinka Animashaun took to X to share a screen recording of what appeared to be an email exchange between herself and Walliser with the subject line, 'Glambot Inquiry.'
The Daily Mail viewed the screen recording on X at the time. Animashaun has since turned her profile private.
On January 27, Walliser finally issued a public apology on Instagram for his 'dismissive and curt' tone in the email exchange, taking 'responsibility for my words, irregardless of what my intent was.'
The emails suggested that Animashaun reached out to book Walliser's Glambot services for a wedding, but was met with resistance. One email marked as being from Walliser stressed that hiring him and the Glambot would be expensive.
He appeared to remind Animashaun that the Glambot is used for 'the biggest red carpets of the year' and the cost to book the camera system is 'not cheap.'
Glambot director Walliser (pictured) is facing backlash for his alleged lack of professionalism after a woman shared a screen recording of what appears to be a 2019 email exchange
Animashaun confirmed that the Glambot would be in her budget range, to which Walliser allegedly responded that he didn't believe her - he had not yet quoted her a fee.
He appeared to respond that hiring him and his camera crew would cost between $10,000 and $1 million.
In her reply, Animashaun said she had assumed the fee would be pricey, and then asked Walliser about next steps for booking.
'Okay it's $300,000 and I'll take a 10 percent deposit to secure the gear and once I have the deposit I can do a contract,' Walliser allegedly wrote back.
Noting his email, Animashaun confirmed that she would reach out by Monday.
Walliser then appeared to accuse Animashaun of 'pretend[ing] you are going to book it' in order to just find out how much it would cost.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Animashaun for comment, but has not heard back.
According to the Glambot website, the starting price to rent the high-speed camera is $2,995, but most events would range between $3,000 and $6,000 depending on the location and optional add-ons.
Yinka Animashaun took to X to share screenshots of what appeared to be her email exchange with Walliser, asking the content creator about pricing for the Glambot
According to the screenshot, Walliser allegedly questioned Animashaun's ability to afford the Glambot
The cost includes an on-site Glambot director 'to cue guests,' an on-set host 'for flow,' a 4ft-by-12ft red carpet, an LED light set, unlimited videos, instant text and email sharing, delivery, set-up and takedown.
Animashaun wrote in a follow-up post that she showed the exchange to her wedding planner, who 'was in shock' at Walliser's supposed behavior.
On X, one user replied, 'Omg this nasty attitude...'
Another said his alleged responses were 'entitled and unprofessional.'
Screenshots of the alleged emails were also posted to Reddit, where some users shared details of their own purported experiences with the Glambot operator.
'This completely tracks with the experience I had with him,' one person claimed on the r/Fauxmoi subreddit. 'He spoke at my old workplace and he came off as incredibly condescending and entitled. Like he was way too big for his britches, if that makes sense.'
Another Reddit user claimed they had a 'bad experience' meeting Walliser while working backstage at the Academy Awards, though they didn't specify when the alleged incident occurred.
'I work backstage at the Oscars and just wanted to chat with him about how I think the Glambot is super cool and I enjoy watching the videos,' they wrote.
Social media users branded Walliser (pictured) 'rude' and 'nasty' after seeing the emails allegedly from him
'He barely gave me the time of day (This was before the red carpet had started, so no celebrities were around, FYI).'
Someone else even claimed that they had also inquired about booking the Glambot for a wedding.
The user, who goes by Roman on X, replied to Animashaun that they had a similar interaction with the content creator in June 2019.
Roman posted a screenshot of an Instagram direct message that appeared to be sent to Walliser's official account. The message sent on June 19, 2019 read: 'Can we book you for a wedding?!?'
In the screenshot, Walliser seemingly replied, 'Hey dude. I mean you caaaaaaaaaaan but there's a reason the GlamBOT is only at the Oscars, the Grammys and the Golden Globes,' along with five money bag emojis.
However, some social media users were quick to defend Walliser's response in this particular alleged exchange.
'How is this rude?' one person asked, while another noted, 'He's giving the person a heads up and it's understandable.'
The Daily Mail has contacted Roman for comment.
The backlash further prompted social media users to comment on Walliser's recent TikTok post, in which he appeared to use generative AI to write a caption for a video.
The post was a Glambot video from the 2026 Golden Globes that featured Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams posing on the red carpet.
It seemed that Walliser forgot to delete the AI prompt from the caption when it was uploaded to TikTok.
The caption read, 'Here's a clean grammar and spell check, keeping the tone and energy the same,' before continuing with a note that Williams was 'being true to himself on the GlamBOT.'
One TikTok user commented on the video, writing, 'You forgot to remove the ChatGPT reply lmao.'
'Cole stop using chatgpt,' someone else wrote. 'Literally hire me to grammar and spell check for you.'
'Hey dude let’s not be using AI for simple CAPTIONS come on,' wrote a third person.
In response to the uproar, Walliser took to his Instagram on January 27 to explain some of his behavior from the 2019 email exchange.
He began the video, 'I want to talk about some emails that I sent years ago that resurfaced recently. The tone in these emails was dismissive and curt and that is not okay.
'In 2019, I didn’t have a team around me. It was just myself. I edited every single video. I answered every single email, and I was overwhelmed. But that is not an excuse - everything lands on me.'
Walliser then responded to some critics who had 'labeled [him] racist' after the exchange, particularly because Animashaun is a Black woman.
He said this was the 'hardest part' about the backlash because he is 'half-Chinese' and 'growing up, issues of identity, race and belonging deeply affected me and I would never intend to inflict that onto anybody else.'
Walliser continued, 'But I do understand that reading these emails, people could be upset, and assume bias, especially given the frequency at which people of color can experience being dismissed, and so I take responsibility for my words, irregardless of what my intent was.'
The content creator then went on to address comments from other people online who claimed they had a negative interaction with Walliser in the past.
In his video, Walliser acknowledged those who had felt dismissed or 'treated [as] less than' on red carpets.
'Live events move really fast and I would never want someone to come see me and leave feeling that way,' he said. 'But I do understand that it could happen and it did happen, and for that I am sorry.'
Walliser concluded his video by telling fans he has 'grown a lot in the past seven years,' and that he always wants to treat people with the 'respect they deserve'.
'But clearly, more can be done and I can do better. And so that's a thing that I want to focus on improving and just working towards being better,' he said.
