Organisers of the TikTok Awards have been forced to apologise after multiple social media creators claimed they were excluded from the red carpet.
Florence Baitio, Niiyèll and Maxi Ducer have taken to the platform to share videos detailing their experiences.
In her video, Florence, who was nominated for Beauty and Fashion Creator of the Year, claimed one photographer refused to take her photo as she walked the red carpet.
‘There was media and a red carpet so me and this other creator went on the carpet to get our photos taken. There were four photographers and one didn’t take our photo. He was telling me to get off,’ she said.
‘It was so embarrassing because what do you mean you didn’t take any photos and you just shuffled me off?’ she added.
‘I’d seen him take lots of photos of other people.’
Organisers of the TikTok Awards have been forced to apologise after multiple social media creators claimed they were excluded from the red carpet. Pictured Florence Baitio
Niiyèll also shared a snippet showing a photographer telling her ‘this has nothing to do with you, we don’t need your photo. What are they going to do with your photo?’
Meanwhile, Maxi shared a similar experience and revealed how one photographer wouldn’t take her photo.
‘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?”‘
‘When they look at us, they don’t think we have the influence. It’s not about the photos, but you can’t speak to me that way.’
She added: ‘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.’
TikTok Australia issued a statement on Sunday after the creators spoke out about their experiences on the red carpet.
‘We sincerely apologise to anyone who felt excluded or uncomfortable at this year’s TikTok Awards,’ it read.
Maxi Ducer (pictured) revealed how one photographer wouldn’t take her photo
Niiyèll (pictured) also posted shared a snippet taken on the red carpet of a photographer telling her ‘this has nothing to do with you, we don’t need your photo. What are they going to do with your photo?’
‘We are deeply upset that some of our valued guests had a negative experience.’
The organisers said a weather warning forced changes to the event’s red carpet and the space was ‘halved which 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,’ the statement continued.
‘We appreciate the feedback to help us improve future events,’ it read.
