Charli D’Amelio’s Photographer Jake Doolittle Gets Threatened With Lawsuit After Exposing Her

Jake Doolittle, over a series of tweets, had accused Charli D'Amelio of using his photographs in her book without his permission. However, he later recanted his words and deleted all of the said tweets. 

The deletion of the tweets left fans in a state of confusion, if not exposed the photographer as guilty. Admittedly, it wouldn't have been the first time that someone accused a celebrity of something bad in the hopes of getting media attention or a fat cheque settlement. 

However, in Doolittle's latest YouTube video, he made an attempt to clear the mist of confusion surrounding the entire controversy and expose what really happened.

Before 'Essentially Charli' Was Released...

Right off the bat, the photographer made it clear that the D'Amelio family and the D'Amelio team were two distinct entities. He explained that the D'Amelio family had been nothing but nice to him during his tenure with them. 

As for the D'Amelio team, it was a different matter altogether. 

It all started with Doolittle working with Charli for a photoshoot in December 2019. He had flown to Connecticut to take photos of the then-rising TikTok star. He had contacted her to establish a link when she was relatively early on in her career, hoping that things would be better for him along the way. 

And during the duration of the shoot, he thought he was right. The shoot had gone well. Both the client and the contact were happy with the work. He agreed that the photos could be used for social media posts for the time being. 

However, he had explicitly stated that he would not be selling the photos, and if the D'Amelio team ever decided to sell the photos anywhere else, he would have to be notified beforehand. The team agreed. 

Quick side note: Doolittle presented photographic evidence of the interaction during the video. 

In a nutshell, the social media celeb got her photos; the photographer got his social media post; no financial transaction took place.

The photographer was alright with the photos being used without compensation for the social media post. But, if his clients decided to use the photos elsewhere, say, on a book, they would have to have a separate agreement. 

After 'Essentially Charli' Was Released...

Fast forward to December 1, 2020, the TikToker announced her book on her Instagram, and the post itself featured a picture taken by Doolittle. Keep in mind, Doolittle was a small-time, young photographer. 

Naturally, he was excited to see his work being published in a book, not to mention his name being featured on the credits. However, when the excitement passed, he took into consideration that the D'Amilio team had violated the initial agreement they'd made. 

On why he didn't speak up sooner, the photographer outed that he was engrossed in his final semester and also had two knee surgeries that left him incapacitated for one and a half months each. 

It was during that time that the photographer started putting out tweets claiming ownership of his work. However, because of his limited reach, he could not get the necessary traction to get people to listen to what he had to say. 

Slowly but surely, though, his posts began to gain traction. Finally, he was being heard and quoted by the mainstream media. And the internet did not respond kindly. Fans of the TikToker started pouring on the photographer. 

When he had garnered enough traction on Twitter, the D'Amelio team finally took notice and decided to call Doolittle.

Charli D'Amelio's Team Threatened Him with a Lawsuit

The photographer claimed that someone from the TikToker's team reached out to him, asked him to take down all his tweets pertaining to the matter, and scared him into not making any more posts to defame their client. 

He went on to add that the team threatened him with a lawsuit if he posted anything that they considered false information. Only after he complied with their demands, he realized that him swallowing his words only made him look more guilty. 

Additionally, his taking down the posts made publications take notice, and he was even approached by more than a few of them for a statement. 

He had not, thus far, come out with an official statement, however, there were articles being written that painted the TikToker and her team out as bullies. Of course, they were not happy about it. 

So they reached out to the photographer again, demanding that he release a statement declaring that D'Amelio had all the rights needed to use the photos in her book. They even went as far as to have him send a copy of his statement beforehand to ensure that it was exactly what they needed it to be. 

Before he could do what they asked him to do, he took notice of the fact that people all over the internet were accusing him of clout-chasing and pedophilia.

Having heard that, he finally mustered the courage to stand up for what he believed was right and documented the entire controversy over a YouTube video.