On Monday April 11, Mamrie Hart hosted the eighth annual Shorty Awards, honoring the best content across the social media spectrum. Awards were given to stars from online sources including Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, Instagram, Vine and Periscope.
The Shorty Awards, created and produced by Sawhorse Media and Univision, took place at the Times Center in New York. The show was available to watch through a live stream at the Shorty Awards website.
Finalists in each category were recognized for excellence in sports, journalism, television and humor, among others. In addition to naming a winner for each category, the Shortys honored high-scoring celebs with gold, silver and bronze honors.
The winners were determined through rankings from the Real Time Academy and most importantly votes from nominee’s fans via social media and on the Shorty Awards website.
Dwayne Johnson was named Best Arts and Entertainment Actor, beating out fellow nominees including Zac Efron, Tom Hanks and Ryan Reynolds. Taraji P. Henson won the same honor for female actress in arts and entertainment.
Jimmy Fallon took the crown for Best Arts and Entertainment Celebrity, beating online super-stars like Snoop Dog, Chrissy Teigen and Weird Al.
Kevin Hart won in a category filled with lots of talent. He beat competitors like Nick Offerman, Amy Schumer, Aziz Ansari and Aidy Bryant to take home the award for best Comedian.
The biggest upset of the night came when Adele won the award for best musician. Big names like Drake, Pearl Jam and Kanye West were running against the singer. And, with all the attention the rapper has been drawing to himself on Twitter, it was a shocker to everyone in the building when “Ye” didn’t win the award.
The most anticipated and hyped up award of the night was for Snapchatter of the Year. Media stars on platforms like Vine and YouTube were awarded for their online presence, but the Snapchat category had two big name stars battling it out for the top prize.
Kylie Jenner, the youngest member of the Kardashian/Jenner family has the most Snapchat followers totaling over 30 million, plus over 50 million on Instagram.
DJ Khaled, who arguably has drawn himself a cult following on Snapchat for his anticipated “cloth talks” and behind the scenes shots of life as a hip-hop star, has making a new name for himself after earning many partnerships with record labels and radios across the nation over the past few months.
When it came down to it Khaled can now truthfully say “We Da Best” as he took home the award of the night, Snapchatter of the Year.
UB students had their opinions about the pop star winning the award. Many students thought it was a well-deserved victory.
Jorge Xell, a sophomore computer engineering major, said that Khaled is a genuine business person and that he is glad to see him being rewarded for all his hard work.
“He definitely deserves it, he’s a humble positive guy who works really hard every day,” he said. “He gives back to the community and never talks bad about anything or anyone, he always shows himself in meetings where he’s helping others gain the success he found. He’s funny and a great guy.”
Khalad’s Snapchat success has been meteoric. At the beginning of 2015 Khalad was practically invisible from the pop culture landscape – now, he is seemingly everywhere.
But for some students, Khalad’s success is superficial.
Wojciech Bednara, a sophomore aerospace engineering major, said he couldn’t disagree more. He said Khaled uses Snapchat as an outlet to excessively brag about his success.
“DJ Khaled gives false hope to regular people on Snapchat,” Bednara said. “I think he’s annoying as sh*t, he’s constantly bragging about his success, that’s a major reason I don’t like him and won’t follow him.”
Some students who knew of Khaled didn’t care that he won the award.
Andrew Martin, a junior computer science major, said that he doesn’t follow him on Snapchat and him winning the award doesn’t change his mind.
“I’m not surprised he won, he has a huge following,” he said. “I personally don’t follow him. I have a Snapchat [but] I’m just not that interested with it.”
Khaled credited all his success to his fans.
“My fans made this happen, shout out to Snapchat because this is a blessing in my life. It’s important for me as a mogul to be in tune with all social media. I’m all about being in tune with culture,” Khaled in an interview after the awards.
Regardless of what people think of him, Khaled is continuing to have a positive influence on the community.
Saturday afternoon Khaled joined the likes of Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, Ludacris and many others to meet with President Barack Obama to be a part of the My Brother’s Keeper project.
Khaled continues to grow his name and brand in all aspects of the entertainment and news world.
Max Kalnitz is an arts editor and can be reached at arts@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Album covers courtesy of Island Records, The Avalanches, Warner Bros. Records, 88rising Records, Smithsonian Folkway Recordings and Numero Group
