LOS ANGELES — The pink carpet was crammed, the TV screens stopped working and lots of the night time’s winners have been absent from the occasion.
However the first U.S. TikTok Awards, held on the Hollywood Palladium on Thursday, nonetheless had lots to have a good time.
Simply earlier than creators started strolling the pink carpet, information broke that ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based father or mother firm, had signed binding agreements to create a three way partnership for the app within the U.S.
A bipartisan regulation handed final yr required ByteDance to promote to an American firm by this yr or face a ban. President Donald Trump repeatedly delayed the ban, which was imagined to take impact in January. In September, Trump signed an government order facilitating a TikTok deal that might switch majority possession of the app to People. However its destiny was largely nonetheless up within the air, till Thursday.
By showtime, the platform’s tumultuous yr already appeared to be a factor of the previous. Viewers members mingled with the nominees and nibbled on hors d’oeuvres resembling caviar on fried rooster and matcha-flavored petit fours. A cannon on stage shot out Labubus to the gang, and Mikey Angelo, recognized on TikTok for his annual “recap” raps, opened the present with a rap that highlighted essentially the most viral tendencies and soundbites of the yr.
Brooke Monk, one of many platform’s earliest stars, stated she spent months worrying about TikTok’s demise.
“You will discover quite a few crash outs of me on-line saying goodbye [to TikTok],” stated Monk, who has greater than 43 million followers on the platform, the place she posts movies on magnificence, style, way of life and comedy.
The brand new deal is “type of a stress reliever for me, as a result of I like it [TikTok] a lot,” she added.
The occasion got here simply weeks earlier than the trade’s conventional awards season kicks off with the Golden Globes in January. Whereas creators have made appearances at Hollywood occasions and awards reveals in previous years, on-line influencers have struggled to realize mainstream recognition within the leisure area.
However TikTok — and its slew of well-liked creators — need that to alter. The present, which aired dwell on TikTok and Tubi, touted the tagline “New Period, New Icons.”
Headlined by Ciara and hosted by La La Anthony, the present featured a star-studded lineup of presenters together with media persona and entrepreneur socialite Paris Hilton (who received muse of the yr), former “The Actual Housewives of New York Metropolis” star Bethenny Frankel and Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles.
“Hopefully … [the show] will convey extra of the general public in,” stated Alexis Nikole Nelson, who has greater than 4.8 million followers on TikTok. “And present them that, though I really feel like everybody’s stated it one million instances, TikTok isn’t just a dancing and lip-synch app.”
“Not that we don’t love the dancers and the lip-synchers too,” Nelson, who reveals her viewers how you can forage wild crops, added.
Hollywood seems to slowly be recognizing digital media’s energy. Simply this week, the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences introduced that its coveted Oscars ceremony will stream solely on YouTube starting in 2029, as an alternative of ABC, its longtime community house.
And Warner Bros. Discovery stated it plans to promote its studio, HBO and HBO Max to streaming large Netflix, passing up Paramount’s bid valued at greater than $108 billion for all of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The creator economic system, which is valued at lots of of billions of {dollars} by some stories, has additionally change into a robust financial and media pressure. Just a few influencers — like MrBeast and Addison Rae, who’ve constructed on-line followings bigger than some Hollywood A-listers’ — have leveraged their viral fame to safe alternatives in conventional movie, TV or music.
“On the finish of the day, what makes anyone a star is the flexibility to captivate an viewers, entertain, make anyone smile, make anyone cry, make anyone really feel one thing,” James Charles, who first rose to web fame as a make-up YouTuber within the 2010s, advised NBC Information on the carpet. “And I believe that takes a particular sort of expertise, whether or not it’s on a conventional movie show display screen or your cellphone display screen.”
TikTok handed out 14 awards that honored each up-and-comers and veterans of the platform.
“Love Island USA” star Jeremiah Brown, who was a part of season seven of Peacock’s well-liked actuality relationship present, was topped rising star of the yr. Keith Lee, recognized for his restaurant opinions, obtained the coveted creator of the yr award.
Different notable winners included Bretman Rock for video of the yr, Alex Warren for breakthrough artist of the yr and Tineke Youthful for storyteller of the yr.
Although primarily for digital-first celebrities, the awards present additionally drew a slew of extra conventional celebrities, together with “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Trixie Mattel, who strutted onstage to screaming cheers as she introduced the primary award of the night time.
“Digital media blew tv away a very long time in the past. And people of us who’ve been right here doing it, we knew what was going to occur,” Mattel advised NBC Information on the carpet earlier than the present. “TV needs.”
The night time ended with TikTok asserting a contribution of $50,000 to the nonprofit Feeding America, in honor of Lee’s affect, simply earlier than blue confetti rained all the way down to the tune of essentially the most viral sound of this summer season: a music for a Jet2 vacation advert.
