Keith Lee won the big prize an the inaugural TikTok Awards
The food influencer won the 2025 Creator of the Year award.
Lee expressed his gratitude for the honor during his emotional speech.
“I never in a million years thought I was going to be standing on this stage,” Lee said.
Lee, who has more than 17 million followers on TikTok came to prominence for his viral food critic videos. He uses the platform for spotlight and boost small businesses throughout
“This means more to me than I can explain,” Lee said, adding that was a shy young kid and now has an audience of millions to share his passion about food.
“TikTok provided me a platform to be able to talk about that,” he said. Lee also credited his wife, Ronni for inspiring him to get started on the platform.
It’s hard to do something for myself, because I always put other people in front of me. But this is for me,” Lee said.
LaLa Anthony who presented the award, announced that “in the spirit of our new Creator of the Year, Keith Lee, TikTok will be contributing 50,000 to Feeding America.”
“Keith Lee has used his influence to help fellow citizens facing food insecurity. And TikTok is honored to contribute to the cause,” Anthony shared.
Themed “New Era, New Icons,” the event marked the inaugural version of the TikTok Awards in the US.
Previously, the popular social media app put on awards shows last year in 21 countries, including the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico and Germany.
Ciara headlined the event with a live performance.
Other winners included DJ Paris Hilton, who took home the “muse of the year” award for inspiring others. Jeremiah Brown, a former “Love Island USA” contestant, who took home the “rising star of the year” award.