Only a few years ago, Keith Lee was a professional MMA fighter, delivering food and making social media videos to ease his social anxiety.
On Thursday night, however, Lee found himself under the glare of bright lights and walking the red carpet in front of the historic Hollywood Palladium on Sunset Boulevard about to be recognized as TikTok’s “Creator of the Year.”
He and hundreds of other creators had gathered for TikTok’s first US awards show. And they had good reason to rejoice.
Just minutes before the inaugural show began, they caught wind of a deal that would allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States through a joint venture controlled by a group of American investors that includes tech giant Oracle Corp. TikTok confirmed the deal in an email to employees and said it was expected to close next month.
“[TikTok] “It’s the best way to reach people and I know so many people who depend on it to support their families,” said Lee, who has 17.3 million followers on his casual restaurant reviews. “For me, it’s my career now, so I can’t imagine it not being there.”
Creators — many of whom are based in Southern California — rely on the app as their primary source of income, while businesses and brands turn to the platform and its influencers to promote their products.
Many feared the app would disappear after the Supreme Court upheld a ban on the platform due to national security concerns raised by President Trump in 2020.
Trump then allowed TikTok, which has offices in Culver City, to continue operations in the United States and signed an executive order in September outlining the new joint venture.
Comedy creator Adam W., who attended the awards show, called the news “game-changing.”
With 22.6 million followers on TikTok, Adam W. has amassed a massive audience for his videos parodying pop culture trends.
In one, he competes on “The Bachelor,” surrounded by a line of blond models who look alike; in another, he drinks matcha lattes with Will Smith.
“That’s so good to hear,” Adam W. said of the new owner. “So many people are able to make careers through TikTok. There are so many people who go on TikTok to get away from their reality and it means a lot to them, so I think it’s really valuable for us.”
TikTok said the awards show aims to celebrate influencers who have helped transform the app into a global force that has shaped the way young Americans shop and consume entertainment.
“You represent a truly global community of over a billion people on TikTok,” Kim Farrell, the app’s global head of creators, said at the event. “This year you showed the world how impactful creators are.”
Despite this historic moment, the awards ceremony did not take place without technical problems. Screens intended to display clips of the candidates and visuals during speeches remained dark all night.
The two-hour show, in which creators received awards in several categories, featured a series of skits parodying TikTok cultural moments, from LeBron Jools telling the crowd to “be good,” 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 get the chance to turn on the camera and do the same thing.”
TikTok’s new ownership should allow the app to rebound after losing market share amid uncertainty about its future, said Max Willens, an analyst at EMarketer.
“Last year, because a lot of advertisers weren’t really sure whether TikTok was going to stay or go, it kind of slowed down the momentum that we had seen on that platform,” Willens said. “We believe that moving forward in this area will only be a failure.”
