Glambot director Cole Walliser, who has gone viral many times online for his slow-mo celebrity fashion videos on red carpets, has apologized after being called out for sending “dismissive” emails that resurfaced on social media this month.
On Jan. 18, designer Yinka Animashaun shared an email exchange with Walliser from 2019, in which she inquired about renting the Glambot camera for a private event. In his emails, Walliser seemed to doubt Animashaun’s ability to pay for the service.
“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,” he wrote. When Animashaun affirmed that it was in her budget, he replied, “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.”
When Animashaun again asked about booking the Glambot, Walliser wrote, “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?” When Animashaun said she would reach back out to him, he added, “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.”
Walliser posted a video apologizing for the interaction on Tuesday, saying, “The tone in these emails was dismissive and curt and that is not OK.”
“In 2019, I didn’t have a team around me. It was just myself,” he said. “I edited every single video. I answered every single email and I was overwhelmed. But that is not an excuse. Everything lands on me.”
He added, “I think the hardest part about all of this is being labeled racist,” he said. “I’m 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. 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.”
English (US) ·