The seams were showing at times at the first TikTok Awards held Thursday night the Hollywood Palladium and live streaming on TikTok and Tubi.
But producers, presenters and winners soldiered on with few hitches. The event didn’t take itself too seriously to begin with — with awards in cheeky categories such as “Immediately Add to Cart,” “My Show is On” and “CapCut of the Year” — and the roomful of creators and influencers enjoyed the colorful atmosphere of being fabulous together at the famed Sunset Boulevard venue.
Multiple winners cited the importance of TikTok in their professional and personal lives, whether it is used to build businesses, build confidence or express creativity. Multiple winners accepted their translucent award, shaped like the TikTok logo, with phones in hand.
New Orleans-based TikTok-er Keith Lee won the top prize of Creator of the Year. He boasts 17.3 million followers on TikTok for his family-friendly posts on food, culture and lifestyle matters. The husband and father of three is building out a larger lifestyle brand under the “Familee” moniker.
“This means more to me than I can explain,” Lee said in accepting his award. He told the crowd that he began filming TikTok videos to help overcome his shyness.
Mariah C. Rose, a sports and lifestyle influencer who hosts “Hoops for Hotties,” was named MVP of the Year. Her kudo was presented by Olympic gold medalist Jordan Chiles. Rose is the daughter of former NBA star Jalen Rose.
The first TikTok Awards held in the U.S. got started almost an hour late because the LED screens on the Palladium’s stage malfunctioned. The ceremony were basically a traditional award presentation — it even opened with a dance number and a satirical song about the events of 2025. It felt awkward in the room for the lack of video clips to demonstrate the nominees’ work, although audio of each clip did run. The video clips did run without interruption on the live stream.
The ceremony was hosted by La La Anthony. A host of prominent TikTok personalities are participating as presenters and nominees. Popular TikTok-er Ashby made a guest appearance, coming out with “K-pop Demon Hunters” voice star Rei Ami to shoot off a “Labubu cannon” out into the seated crowd on the floor of the legendary Sunset Boulevard venue.
“I hope you signed your waivers,” Ashby said as she fired off the Labubus.
Other presenters included Trixie Mattel and “The Bachelor” alum Chelsea Vaughn.
Among the winners were Paris Hilton for Muse of the Year. Hilton was on hand to accept the trophy in the shape of the TikTok logo. She thanked “all my little Hiltons.”
Hilton assured the crowd of colorfully dressed creators and influencers, “You don’t need permission to be iconic. Just show up, sparkle hard and don’t forget that everyone is a princess.”
An hour into to the presentation, the large video screen briefly popped back to life with a video image of the TikTok Awards logo set to the soundtrack of the Coldplay song “Yellow.” But it still could not play clips of nominees.
The crowd was undaunted by the technical snafu. Cheers and shouts were strong from the various cheering sections for nominees.
(Pictured: TikTok Award winner Mariah C. Rose)
