Keith Lee named ‘creator of the year’ at first-ever US TikTok awards

December 19, 2025 – 1:55 PM

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Content creators gathered in Hollywood on Thursday for the first U.S. TikTok Awards

The night included viral moment reenactments

Keith Lee won the “creator of the year” award

Grammy-winning pop singer Ciara performed a compilation of songs

The ceremony marks a significant feat for the social media app

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.”

“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.

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.

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