Just a few years ago, Keith Lee was a professional MMA fighter, delivering food and making social media videos to ease his social anxiety.
But on Thursday night, Lee found himself under bright lights and walking the red carpet outside the historic Hollywood Palladium on Sunset Boulevard, about to be named TikTok's “Creator of the Year.”
He and hundreds of other creators gathered for TikTok's first American awards show. And they had good reason to celebrate.
Just a few minutes before the start of the first show, they became aware of deal that will allow TikTok to continue operating in the US through a joint venture controlled by a group of US investors that includes technology giant Oracle Corp. TikTok confirmed the deal in an email to employees and said it was scheduled to close next month.
“[TikTok] “It's the best way to connect with people, and I know so many people who rely on it to support their families,” said Lee, who has 17.3 million followers for his casual restaurant reviews. “For me, this is my career now, so I can’t imagine not having her around.”
Creators, many of whom are based in Southern California, rely on the app as a key source of income, while companies and brands turn to the platform and its influencers to promote their products.
Many worried that the app could disappear after the Supreme Court upheld a ban on the platform over national security concerns raised by President Trump in 2020.
Trump subsequently allowed TikTok, which has offices in Culver City, to continue operating in the US, and in September signed a decree description of the new joint venture.
Comedy creator Adam W., who attended the awards ceremony, called the news “game-changing.”
With 22.6 million followers on TikTok, Adam W. has amassed a huge following with his videos parodying pop culture trends.
In one of them, he is a participant in the show “The Bachelor”, surrounded by a line of similar blonde models; in another, he drinks a matcha latte with Will Smith.
“It’s very nice to hear that,” Adam W. said of the new owner. “So many people can make a career out of TikTok. There are so many people who go to TikTok to escape their reality and it means a lot to them, so I think it's really valuable to us.”
TikTok said the awards ceremony aims to recognize influencers who have helped build the app into a global force that has shaped the way young Americans shop and consume entertainment.
“You represent TikTok's truly global community of more than 1 billion people,” Kim Farrell, global head of the app's creators, said at the event. “This year you showed the world the impact creators have.”
Despite the historic moment, the awards ceremony was not without technical glitches. Screens designed to show videos of participants and videos during performances were dark throughout the night.
The two-hour show, which saw creators win awards in several categories, included a number of skits parodying TikTok cultural moments, from Jules LeBron telling the crowd to “be humble” to K-Pop Demon Hunters' Rei Ami firing a Labubu cannon into the crowd.
“TikTok has definitely changed my life,” Lee said in an interview. “I’ve always planned my life around food, so I was lucky enough to just turn on the camera and do the same.”
TikTok's new owner should allow the app to recover after it lost market share amid uncertainty about its future, said Max Willens, an analyst at EMarketer.
“Last year, because a lot of advertisers weren't sure if TikTok was here to stay or go away, it kind of slowed down the momentum that we were seeing on the platform,” Willens said. “We think moving forward will prove to be just a passing event.”
