TikTok wants its creators to be taken more seriously. So it threw an awards show.

TikTok hosted its first U.S. awards show in Hollywood on Thursday.

LOS ANGELES — The red carpet was crammed, the TV screens stopped working and many of the night’s winners were absent from the event.

But the first U.S. TikTok Awards, held at the Hollywood Palladium on Thursday, still had a lot to celebrate.

Just before creators began walking the red carpet, news broke that ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, had signed binding agreements to create a joint venture for the app in the U.S.

A bipartisan law passed last year required ByteDance to sell to an American company by this year or face a ban. President Donald Trump repeatedly delayed the ban, which was supposed to take effect in January. In September, Trump signed an executive order facilitating a TikTok deal that could transfer majority ownership of the app to Americans. But its fate was largely still up in the air, until Thursday.

By showtime, the platform’s tumultuous year already seemed to be a thing of the past. Audience members mingled with the nominees and nibbled on hors d’oeuvres such as caviar on fried chicken and matcha-flavored petit fours. A cannon on stage shot out Labubus to the crowd, and Mikey Angelo, known on TikTok for his annual “recap” raps, opened the show with a rap that highlighted the most viral trends and soundbites of the year.