You may not see one familiar face on the red carpet for the rest of award season!
Award show watchers know that Cole Walliser is the field operator for the Glambot, a high-speed mechanical camera that captures the stars’ stunning looks for the E! Network, and he is a beloved fixture on every red carpet!
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But during the Grammys on Sunday, social media users noticed that as the biggest stars in music posed for the Glambot, Cole was nowhere to be found! A woman directed the celebrities’ poses instead! Take a look (below):
Bad Bunny is a #Glambot pro. ???? #AwardsSeason #Grammys pic.twitter.com/x3z60G4X91
— E! News (@enews) February 2, 2026
Rauw Alejandro is a dream in the #Grammys #Glambot. ???? #AwardsSeason pic.twitter.com/08s1spTEwI
— E! News (@enews) February 2, 2026
One slay after another for Teyana Taylor and her parents at the #Grammys #Glambot. ???? #AwardsSeason pic.twitter.com/ucHT2FaGlr
— E! News (@enews) February 2, 2026
We're adding Benson Boone's #Grammys #Glambot to our list of beautiful things. ???? #AwardsSeason pic.twitter.com/8ep99dqmuf
— E! News (@enews) February 2, 2026
Sooo, what gives? Why wasn’t Cole there?
According to Variety, he got FIRED after all the controversy surrounding him this month!
For those who haven’t followed the situation, it all started at the Golden Globes on January 11. Jennifer Lopez stopped by the Glambot to show off her Jean-Louis Scherrer gown. While fans loved the dress, they hated her attitude toward Cole!
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A behind-the-scenes video showed J.Lo approaching the Glambot and immediately turning her back to Cole while he was trying to give her instructions. She seemingly completely ignored him! Watch it (below):
View this post on Instagram
Yikes!
Many took to social media to blast Jenny From The Block for her “rude” behavior. However, Cole made it clear he was in no way offended by Jennifer! He even defended the pop star, saying that celebrities are “at work” when they’re at award shows, it’s overwhelming on the red carpet, etc. The content creator, overall, was very forgiving of Jennifer when he didn’t have to be.
Everyone was on Team Cole following the incident. However, the tides quickly turned when some of his old emails between himself and a woman looking to book the Glambot for a wedding leaked online quickly afterward. Back in 2019, a woman named Yinka Animashaun reached out to Cole to ask about the availability and prices for the Glambot:
“Are you/the Glambot available for private events such as a wedding? I’d love to have you at mine September 20th and September 22nd. Please let me know your availability and rates!”
Cole immediately appeared to doubt whether she could afford to book the service before he even shared the fee, replying:
“Thanks for reaching out! 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.”
Although Yinka insisted that “it’s something in my budget range” in a follow-up email, Cole continued to question whether she could pay for it:
“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.”
Jeez! How about, you know, just giving her the exact price like she asked instead of all this unnecessary and rude back and forth? She responded:
“Yeah I just assumed it was very pricy since its featured at the Oscars. So what are the steps to book? Would you be the person that comes or do you just work with them for red carpets? What’s the rundown?”
After giving her a breakdown of the setup, Yinka asked how to begin the booking process. That is when Cole finally gave her the price:
“Okay 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?”
Yinka then thanked Cole for the response before adding:
“I’ll reach out by Monday!”
He then fired back:
“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.”
WTF. Check out the emails (below):
Hi everyone! This is what I’m referring to ???? https://t.co/y7RRIK2QwD pic.twitter.com/1RVLLcR99u
— D.A.R.E Capo (@YungYinkv) January 19, 2026
Cole immediately faced backlash online, with many calling him “racist” for how he treated Yinka. He apologized in a video last week, 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. I edited every single video. I answered every single email and I was overwhelmed. But that is not an excuse. Everything lands on me. I think the hardest part about all of this is being labelled racist. 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.”
Watch the entire video (below):
View this post on Instagram
His apology didn’t cut it for E!, though.
Network insiders told Variety on Monday that Cole was not hired for the Grammys. In fact, he may never work with E! again! The source shared that the company is rethinking its strategy around future shows, noting they are “committed to maintaining a respectful and professional environment and does not condone behavior that is inconsistent with its standards.”
We’ll see if Cole returns to the red carpet with E! at the next award show, but it sounds like he’s done with the network for good now!What are your thoughts, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments!
[Image via MEGA/WENN]
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