The TikTok Awards had been messy. I used to be there.

TikTok introduced the TikTok Awards to the U.S. for the primary time this 12 months — and after attending the underwhelming present in individual, I am not completely satisfied it ought to occur once more.

The evening was a complete catastrophe: filled with tech mishaps, sizzling mics, and an ever-growing absent crowd.

The pink carpet itself appeared promising at first. Creators like Yasmine Sahid, Ashby Florence, Alexis Nikole Nelson, and Janette Okay walked the carpet, and there was no scarcity of TikTok-famous faces. However the attain stopped there. Not one of the most important forged members from I Love LA, a present deeply rooted in TikTok tradition, had been in attendance, and no celebrities past the FYP bubble — even though actors and musicians use the app continually to advertise their work. In fact, not everybody attends a carpet, however the absence was curious.

Then got here the delay. The present began practically an hour late. Contained in the venue, rumors unfold shortly that we had been ready on Paris Hilton, however as soon as she received comfy — trailed by an entourage match for royalty, together with one individual whose sole job gave the impression to be holding a lightweight inches from her face — we nonetheless did not begin.

That is when it grew to become apparent the place the true downside was.

Throughout the room, tech crew members dressed head-to-toe in black scrambled behind the venue. The screens weren’t working, which is a catastrophic problem for any award present, however particularly for one constructed completely round short-form video.

“We’re operating a bit late as a result of that is fairly a robust room. You’re so highly effective since you blew out our screens,” Kim Farrell, the worldwide head of creators at TikTok, advised the room of stressed creators earlier than the present lastly started. (A TikTok spokesperson confirmed to Mashable {that a} “venue-specific electrical problem” affected the on-site screens, ensuing within the delay.) The reduction did not final lengthy.

Virtually each presenter’s bit relied on these screens. La La Anthony, internet hosting alongside Ashby Florence (who was seated within the crowd), opened the present with an interplay that required La La to indicate her For You Web page on the massive display screen. With out it, the second landed awkwardly — complicated for viewers watching at residence and uncomfortable within the room.

And that set the tone.

Ashby, to her credit score, carried the evening. Her crowd work was charming, fast, and genuinely humorous, and he or she managed to inject life into moments that in any other case would have fully stalled. I hope she was paid terribly properly, as a result of she was doing the work of a complete manufacturing workforce.

As soon as it grew to become clear the screens weren’t coming again, most presenters did not regulate their scripts in any respect. They continued gesturing towards clean screens whereas audio from unseen montages performed. Tefi Pessoa’s presentation for Video of the Yr labored regardless, however when the award went to Bretman Rock, he wasn’t there to just accept it, which was one other recurring problem. Roughly a 3rd of the winners weren’t within the room.

That absence might have one thing to do with how the evening felt much less like a celebration and extra like a really lengthy commercial.

Each award was, after all, tied again to TikTok, however the present was cluttered with sponsor integrations — Carl’s Jr., e.l.f. Cosmetics — and awards branded for TikTok-owned instruments. There was a CapCut award as an alternative of a common modifying class. TikTok Store offered an award. It was TikTok giving TikTok Awards to TikTok, and whereas all award exhibits are business at some degree, this one felt particularly on the nostril.

Because the evening went on, increasingly individuals quietly left their seats and the venue altogether. There have been no seat fillers, so the empty chairs grew to become unimaginable to disregard. Regardless of repeated reminders about an upcoming Ciara efficiency, the room was in all probability 15 % empty by the point she lastly took the stage.

The princess is right here to avoid wasting us.
Credit score: Phillip Faraone and Kevin Mazur / Getty Photos for TikTok

To be honest, Ciara carried out, and he or she completely delivered. Between her efficiency and Ashby’s relentless effort to maintain issues enjoyable, the evening stayed afloat. However simply barely.

When Keith Lee accepted the Creator of the Yr award, the tone within the room shifted. Lee was visibly emotional, and TikTok introduced a $50,000 donation to Feeding America in his honor. It was a uncommon second of sincerity in an in any other case uneven evening. And it underscored how creators ought to be awarded for his or her work — they entertain us, make us chortle, assist us be taught, and encourage us. These sorts of creator-led award exhibits ought to exist. The Webby Awards and the Shorty Awards play a task in uplifting short-form content material and its creators, as an illustration. However this try from TikTok fell brief.

And possibly that is as a result of it broke its personal unwritten rule. The platform that thrives on spontaneity and creator tradition as an alternative opted for moments that felt designed for clips, fairly than real connection.

Earlier within the night, earlier than the present started, Mashable requested creators on the pink carpet what their phrase of the 12 months can be. Merriam-Webster had simply introduced “slop” as its official phrase of 2025, and we wished to see what the Extraordinarily On-line must say. La La Anthony mentioned “change.” Alexis Nikole Nelson selected “daring.” Kelsey Anderson mentioned, “Interval.” Tan France went with “C U Subsequent Tuesday” (the precise phrase, not the phrase). And Ashby supplied probably the most painfully correct phrase of all: “conundrum.”

After being inside that room all evening, although, Merriam-Webster would possibly’ve nailed it the primary time.