Keith Lee named ‘creator of the year’ at first-ever U.S. TikTok awards

LOS ANGELES -- Content creators across dance, music, sports, fashion, entertainment and education gathered in Hollywood on Thursday for the first U.S. TikTok Awards, featuring Labubu dolls launched from a T-shirt cannon, a giant selfie challenge, skits, and viral moment reenactments.

The livestreamed ceremony on TikTok and Tubi, hosted by lifestyle influencer La La Anthony, crowned Keith Lee as “creator of the year” and honored Bretman Rock for “video of the year.”

“TikTok provided me a platform to be able to show small businesses around the country,” Lee, who creates family and small business content, said on stage while accepting his award.

“It’s hard to do something for myself, because I always put other people in front of me, but this is for me,” he added.

Other winners included DJ Paris Hilton, who took home the “muse of the year” award for inspiring others, and Jeremiah Brown, a former “Love Island USA” contestant, who took home the “rising star of the year” award.

“A muse doesn’t follow trends, we help create them,” Hilton said during her acceptance speech on stage.

The honor highlighting activism included the “For Good” award, given to Zach, a creator with Down syndrome who shares his life to promote inclusion, and his brother Pat Valentine, who educates audiences about the condition.

Near the end of the night, Grammy-winning pop singer Ciara performed a compilation of her most popular songs, including “Goodies,” “1,2 Step” and “Level Up.”

The ceremony marks a significant feat for social media app TikTok, as its Chinese parent company ByteDance, led by CEO Shou Zi Chew, reported on Thursday that a binding agreement has been made with three major investors to sell just over 80% of the company’s U.S. assets to American and global investors to avoid a U.S. government ban.

“I’ve been really involved with the opportunities to save TikTok from the very beginning,” Alexandra Doten, who makes educational videos for TikTok, told Reuters on the carpet before the show began.

“I was in DC talking about it, so I’m just so excited. This platform does so much to spark creativity and to make people smarter and more inspired,” she added.

The deal is a major step toward resolving years of uncertainty about the short video app’s future in the United States since August 2020, when then President Donald Trump first tried unsuccessfully to ban the app that is now used regularly by more than 170 million Americans.

The app faced a potential ban in the U.S due to risk of China’s government exploiting the platform to spy on Americans and carry out covert influence operations.

(Reporting by Danielle Broadway and Alexandra Sarabia; Editing by Stephen Coates)