A Tennessee baker and social media star who competed on a reality TV show last year is facing a lawsuit from rivals over her business's name.
Chloe Sexton, who owns Chloe's Giant Cookies, was a finalist on the first season of Gordon Ramsay's Next Level Baker and has become renowned on TikTok for her large, stuffed sweet treats.
She was riding high on her success until she received the threat of a trademark infringement lawsuit from a Florida-based rival.
In a tearful video shared last week, Sexton explained that Chloe's Cookies LLC had contacted her and claimed her business's name is too similar to theirs.
The company, owned by Ken and Sheryl Weiner, began in June 2018 and is named after their dog.
The Weiners confirmed to the Daily Mail that they have yet to actually file the lawsuit. They declined to comment further other than to say they would make a statement supported by documentation at the appropriate time.
Sexton said in her video that Chloe's Cookies sent her a legal notice on November 20, three days after she told her 2.8 million TikTok followers that she was going to be on Ramsay's show.
'With the help of my lawyer and my team, we have solidly proved that for many years, there have been 25 plus businesses, we have found alone, operating some combination of the words "Chloe's" and "cookies"; they are not being sued, but I am. Furthermore, their name is not Chloe, but mine is,' Sexton said.
Chloe Sexton, the owner of Chloe's Giant Cookies, is facing a possible trademark infringement lawsuit from a couple who own a cookie-making business with a similar name.
Sexton competed on Gordon Ramsay's Next Level Baker, a reality TV show. She was one of the finalists.
Sexton could eventually be sued by Ken and Sheryl Weiner, the owners of Chloe's Cookies LLC. The company confirmed that a lawsuit has not been filed yet.
There are at least six other businesses operating in the United States that have the words 'Chloe' or 'Cookie' in their names, according to the Daily Mail's review of business records.
She offered to meet with the owners of Chloe's Cookies without lawyers present but claims she was told that they had 'absolutely no interest in speaking to me,' she said through tears.
Sexton began baking during the pandemic after she was fired from her job while pregnant. She used the proceeds to support her dying mom and take care of her little sister, eventually incorporating Chloe's Giant Cookies in May 2024.
'The internet blew my life up and made me incredibly successful, which in turn made me financially able to put my mother in hospice and give her dignity when she passed from brain cancer and subsequently start raising my little sister,' Sexton said.
Sexton said she has considered changing her business's name just to avoid the hassle but has not decided on a course of action yet.
'I would be lying if I said I had not considered just doing a clean break to keep my family and everything that I have built safe by changing my name and moving on, but I'm not only responsible for what I want to do for my own comfort,' she said.
'I am also responsible for the example that is set for my little sister, and the example that I want to set is that what you work your whole life for, what you have built, is worth fighting for, especially if it is your actual name.'
'I can't say with full honesty that I know exactly what I will do because my little sister,my family,comes first,but my mother would be ashamed if I didn't at least fight.'
Sexton stands on stage during the taping of Next Level Baker with her fellow contestants.
On Monday, Sexton got a huge boost of support from Jen Hamilton, a nurse who has 4.6 million followers on TikTok.
Hamilton made a video on Sunday bashing the business owners considering a lawsuit against Sexton. The video has received more than 2.6 million views.
'What kind of evil lair s* y'all got to be on to go after a girl who watched her mother die of brain cancer and then take in her little sister to raise as her own?' Hamilton said. 'Whatever Chloe decides is best, just know, I will back her 1000 percent.'
Sexton was livestreaming when she saw Hamilton's video and couldn't hold back laughter and tears as she watched it.
She also watched hundreds of people go onto her website, later announcing that over 1,800 cookies were preordered in less than an hour. All 13 varieties of her giant cookies remain sold out.
'Jen Hamilton, you are one of the most amazing people I haven't met yet,' she wrote. 'Thank you. I will fight for what I built.'
Sexton has set up a GoFundMe to pay for legal expenses that has raised more than $55,000 as of Tuesday morning. The Daily Mail approached Sexton for comment.