Photographer Sued for Waging Campaign Against TikTok-Famous Photo Booth

Police have been called to the photo booth multiple times. Photographer Maggie Trakas (seen right) has allegedly waged a campaign against the business.

A photographer has been sued for $2 million for throwing a bucket of urine at a TikTok-famous vintage photo booth that was set up next door to her home.

Zoë Lazerson and Brandon Minton, the owners of the popular Old Friend Photobooth in New York, have sued photographer and artist Maggie Trakas for waging a campaign against their business.

After going viral on TikTok, the Old Friend Photobooth has attracted hordes of social media users and visitors at its various locations in the city. Customers will line up along the street to pay $8 for a strip of four vintage black-and-white pictures taken in the 1970s refurbished photobooth.

However, according to a lawsuit filed by Lazerson and Minton, Trakas was so enraged when the Old Friend Photobooth set up next door to her home in the Lowest East Side in December that she threw a bucket of urine from her window onto one of the booth’s owners and a queueing customer.

According to a report by The Independent, Lazerson and Minton also allege that Trakas used her artist tools to paint feces along the photo booth’s fence and planters and superglued the keyholes of the booth owners’ maintenance van. The pair also claim Trakas physically and verbally assaulted Minton in front of customers.

“Trakas will seemingly stop at nothing to derail the operation of the Old Friend Photobooth,” Lazerson and Minton say in an application for a temporary restraining order against the photographer filed Friday and obtained by The Independent.

A screengrab of security footage that allegedly shows Old Friend Photobooth co-owner Brandon Minton (bottom) as a bucket of urine is dumped on his head.

Lazerson and Minton claim that within an hour of opening their new location in the Lower East Side, Trakas confronted the pair calling the photo booth a “disgrace” and demanding its closure.

Trakas is the daughter of renowned contemporary artist Susan Rothenberg and acclaimed sculptor George Trakas. According to the lawsuit, Lazerson and Minto attempted to appeal to Trakas “who is herself a photographer and member of the arts community” by “sharing their appreciation for art and photography” behind their photo booth business.

However, Trakas allegedly continued to attack their photo booth. Lazerson and Minton state that the only time their photo booth experienced any reprieve was during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, while Trakas was out of town.

According to the complaint, on January 2, Minton found what seemed to be frozen urine on the chair and sidewalk near the photo booth. Furthermore, Lazerson and Minton claim Trakas called the photo booth visitors “narcissistic r—-ds.”

The Independent reports that Lazerson and Minton are now asking a judge to make Trakas pay them a little over $2 million, as well as legal fees. They also want an injunction to be issued that would formally bar Trakas from continuing to disrupt their photo booth business.

Police have been called to the scene multiple times, but while officers have taken reports, no arrests have been made. Trakas now has 20 days to respond to the allegations.

In a statement to The New York Post, Trakas claims Lazerson’s and Minton’s lawsuit against her was a cash grab, given that TikTok may be banned in the U.S. and their photo booth business may be impacted by this.

Trakas, who is a lifelong New Yorker, also complains about the crowds that the photo booth attracts.

“On the weekends and over the holidays, it has been unmanageable,” Trakas tells The New York Post. “We’re talking up to hundreds of people on the line, all the same age demographic. No one local, not even NYU [New York University].”

Image credits: All photos via court documents.