With so much bubblegum pop, teenage naivete and positivity coming out the ying yang on the "Teen Choice Awards" every year, you would think a good time would have been had by all. Well, not everyone was smiling.
The "Teen Choice Awards" has actually been the subject of some controversy after the ceremony aired on Fox Aug. 10. And no, it doesn't involve Miley Cyrus. A huge backlash against the awards, which are said to be determined by fan voting, hit Twitter after the ceremony. A group of young web stars, some nominated for "Teen Choice Awards," some not, voiced their disappointment in learning that the actual winners may not be decided solely by the fans.
Apparently, the Twitter firestorm began when Cameron Dallas, who won the award for "Choice Viner," tweeted that Tyler Oakley knew he was going to win the award before the ceremony. "It's funny how they told me I won the viner award 6 days before the voting ended and made the runners up still tweet to vote for them," Dallas wrote in a tweet that has since been deleted but lives on in screen grabs.
Vine star Carter Reynolds also tweeted "#TCAs2014 used all of us for promotion. What a joke." The hashtag "#TeensDontHaveAChoiceAwards," soon became a trending topic on Twitter. Tweets from upset fans soon followed.
#TeensDontHaveAChoiceAwards next year no one should vote. Absolutely no one, and let's see how they're going to pick the winners
— fifth karen (@trillestregui) August 11, 2014
THIS MAKES ME SO SAD! WE VOTED LIKE A CRAZY! ): #TeensDontHaveAChoiceAwards #CameronIsOurWinner pic.twitter.com/JoEFK5m58W — ally (@crawfordallas) August 11, 2014
If teens had a choice, trash wouldn't have won #TeensDontHaveAChoiceAwards
— alyssa | 26 (@whateverjohnson) August 11, 2014
After the 2013 "Teen Choice Awards," PerezHilton.com posted a screen grab of the disclaimer that runs following the awards. "Winners for the Teen Choice Awards were determined through voting on the TeenChoiceAwards.com website. The results of the voting were tabulated electronically by TeenChoiceAwards.com and confirmed by a committee of Fox representatives. Teenasaurus Rox Inc. had the right to determine the winners from among the top four vote getters of the nominees in each of 88 categories. Ultimate choice was determined solely by the producers," the disclaimer said.
But before you freak out, The Washington Post reports that the message usually follows the awards ceremony and that it was also shown during this year's telecast. So we can all take comfort in knowing that the awards were probably "rigged" all along. Fox has not yet commented on the matter.
The "Teen Choice Awards" categories that honor web stars, such as "Choice Web Star," "Choice Web Collaboration" and "Choice Viner," are newer categories to the awards, which is probably because Internet celebrities have become increasingly popular with U.S. teens. A survey commissioned by "Variety" in July found that the five individulas with the most influence among Americans ages 13 to 18 are the YouTube stars Smosh, The Fine Bros., PewDiePie, KSI and Ryan Higa. With Web stars wielding so much influence among teens today, the "Teen Choice Awards" should hope this controversy hasn't turned fans away completely.
