The People’s Choice Awards were held in Santa Monica, California on February 18th, with many stars including Margot Robbie, Luke Combs, Lenny Kravitz and Taylor Swift taking home big awards. The 2024 awards, hosted by Simu Liu, aired live on NBC, Peacock and E! with the number of categories expanding to 45.
The night was filled with memorable and award-winning moments, many of which were talked about on social media in the next couple days. Noteworthy news from the awards were Greta Gerwig’s Barbie sweeping the film category, including winning “Movie of the Year”, “Comedy Movie of the Year”, “Male Movie Star of the Year”, “Female Movie Star of the Year”, and “Movie Performance of the Year”. America Ferrera, supporting actress in Barbie took the stage that night to accept The Movie Performance of the Year award.
“It feels like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a part of such a bold and inspiring masterpiece and to get to speak words of truth that so many of us needed to hear out loud,” Ferrera stated. “[Barbie] is an invitation to all of us to embrace our full selves as we already are; uniquely, gloriously and perfectly human.”
“I love that both Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie won Male and Female movie star of the year,” said NECC student and Journalism Major Janie Dunn. “It worked out so well.”
Other notable wins of the night included Billie Eilish for her TV performance in the show Swarm, Taylor Swift for Female Artist of the Year and Pop Artist of the Year.
“I’m not surprised Taylor Swift won in every category she was nominated in,” Dunn added. “I am surprised that Billie Eilish won TV Performance of the Year considering no one has really seen the show she was in. Ayo Edibiri was nominated in that category, and she has been winning frequently at other award shows.”
Billie Eilish was not only talked about for her win during the awards. In a video that went viral on social media, the singer can be seen speaking about the amount of “TikTokers” at the event. She was seated next to Australian pop star Kylie Minogue, in which she could be heard speaking on the number of creators at the event.
“There’s some, like, Tiktokers here,” Eilish said on the video. This sparked a debate on social media, specifically on X, in which the video has been viewed over 2.7 million times.
“It’s a little weird that they’re at the event,” said Haverhill resident and Journalism minor Hailey Prunier. “I do think that it is a bit more acceptable for them to be at the People’s Choice Awards, since it’s geared a lot more towards the public. If they were at the Oscars or Grammys, it would definitely be a little weird.”
Tana Mongeau, James Charles, and Alix Earle were among some of the many influencers who were invited to the event. Many social media users who saw the video agreed with Eilish and commented on the recent award shows that social media influencers have been invited too.
“She’s right, TikTokers have no business being in award shows,” user @CrisVqz27 wrote on X, criticizing the number of influencers at the People’s Choice Awards.
“I think influencers who have lots of followers over multiple platforms should be allowed to go to awards like the People’s Choice Awards, since it will bring in a wider audience,” said NECC student and marketing major Josh Pasciuto. “However, if someone is just getting popular, it makes it illegitimate if they come to the event over someone who put in the effort in other forms of entertainment.”
The People’s Choice Awards had many other memorable moments including wins from Beyonce, Ice Spice and Jennifer Aniston. Adam Sandler accepted the People’s Icon Award after giving a hilarious and memorable speech, with Lenny Kravitz also receiving the Music Icon Award. Viewers can see the full list of winners on the People Magazine website.
