Multiple TikTok creators have taken to the platform to detail their experience of alleged racism while attending the 2025 TikTok Awards in Sydney last week.
The discussion was launched on social media by creator Florence Baitio, who was nominated for Beauty and Fashion Creator of the Year at the event.
In a two-minute TikTok video, Baitio recalled being denied a picture from a photographer while attempting to walk the red carpet at the ceremony.
“There was this photographer wearing a blue cap and he literally didn’t take a photo,” Baitio claimed. “He was telling me to get off [the carpet].”
“It was so embarrassing because what do you mean you didn’t take any photos and you just shuffled me off?” Baitio added. “I’d seen him take lots of photos of other people.”
At around the same time as Baitio’s video, fellow creator Maxi Ducer also shared a TikTok clip detailing a similar experience with a photographer on the red carpet, saying the person “looked at us like, ‘who are these povos?’”
“He looked at us and basically refused to take our photos … he said, ‘we don’t want your photos. What are we going to do with your photos?’”
“We’ve been dealing with this kind of stuff for many years in this industry … I wanted to speak on this and bring everyone’s attention to what’s happening,” Ducer said.
In a statement provided to PEDESTRIAN.TV, Ducer said her experience at the TikTok Awards “isn’t new for creators of colour, it’s something we’ve been dealing with quietly for years”.
“What happened at the TikTok Awards wasn’t an isolated incident, it was just the first time it happened publicly enough for people to see it,” Ducer said.
“We’ve been experiencing discrimination through exclusion for a very long time, and this moment simply made it undeniable,” she added.
While she was able to get her photo taken on the carpet, another creator, Unice Wani, shared a message denouncing the alleged racism her peers received. “I got my picture taken, so why were my fellow creators … treated so poorly?” Wani said.
“Why have us in those spaces if we’re just going to be told we’re not good enough?”
In another video, TikTok star Niiyèll shared a clip taken from the red carpet in which a photographer can be heard saying, “this has nothing to do with you, we don’t need your photo. What are they going to do with your photo?”.
TikTok Australia issued a statement on Sunday after scores of users shared their support for the creators who spoke out about their experience.
“We sincerely apologise to anyone who felt excluded or uncomfortable at this year’s TikTok Awards,” the statement read.
“We are deeply upset that some of our valued guests had a negative experience.”
TikTok Australia said a weather warning had forced changes to the event’s red carpet and media areas, which “halv[ed] the space available and [made] the flow of people throughout the venue challenging”.
“Our amazing and diverse community is what makes TikTok great and the awards are designed to celebrate that – more than one third of this year’s nominees were from culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds,” TikTok Australia said.
“We appreciate the feedback to help us improve future events,” it added.
Speaking to PEDESTRIAN.TV, Ducer said that although the “support from other creators and TikTok users has meant a lot”, the platform itself needs to do more for including creators of colour.
“TikTok mentioned that ‘more than one-third of the nominees were from different cultural backgrounds’, but that completely misses the point,” Ducer said.
“We are not talking about diversity in the broad, safe, feel-good way. We are talking specifically about Black creators because when every other background is included except us, that’s not diversity, that’s erasure,” she added.
On Saturday, TikTok Awards attendee Nina Oyama detailed her own experience at the ceremony to PEDESTRIAN.TV, saying it is “an event ripped straight from Black Mirror”.
Ilai Matangi took home the ceremony’s top gong of Creator of the Year, while Sophie Monk served as this year’s host.
Lead images: TikTok
The post TikTok Australia Apologises As Multiple Creators Detail Alleged Racism At TikTok Awards appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
