The Golden Globes is a prestigious award ceremony for American and international film and television. This year, it was broadcast on Jan. 7, and, with Hollywood finally picking itself up after the writers strike, the Golden Globes was on its way to be a huge success. However, the host Jo Koy had other plans with his humorless and offensive monologue.
The night started off with Koy introducing himself and saying that he was grateful to be there and how he had dreamed of that moment since he was a kid. A football game was being shown before the Globes, so Koy began the monologue portion by saying “the difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL: at the Golden Globes we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.” He delivered the comment while nervously laughing, and Swift did not look pleased as she scowled at him. The introduction was insensitive and frankly boring. It did not grab my attention and the whole time I was staring at the screen waiting for something to make me laugh.
After the introduction, he went on to talk about the movies “Oppenhiemer” and “Barbie” competing for cinematic box office achievements. That is when things started to take a turn. Koy then made a joke saying “‘Oppenheimer’ is based on a 721-page Pulitzer prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project.” He then went on to say “‘Barbie’ is on a plastic doll with big boobies.” The joke was unnecessary, considering he had every other opportunity to say something funny about “Barbie,” but instead chose to belittle the entire movie and its whole theme. The cast of the “Barbie” movie was not amused, and the director, Greta Gerwig, looked disappointed about the comment. After that, I honestly did not think it could get any worse. Boy, was I wrong.
Koy went on to insult Margot Robbie, who played the title role, by saying “the key moment in ‘Barbie’ is when she goes from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite and flat feet.” Koy continued, “or what casting directors like to call character acting.” Koy must have realized that the crowd was not loving his attempt at a funny speech because after he made those offensive jokes he started to blame his writers, which was way out of line. Even if the writers had written the speech, Koy still could have taken accountability for what he said.
Since the Golden Globes was aired, Koy has been starting to face backlash for his actions. Even at the Globes, many of the A-list celebrities were uncomfortable with his so-called humor. Selena Gomez was spotted putting her head in her hands after one of the “Barbie” comments. Koy got even more defensive and fed up when his jokes fell flat, so he argued “Yo, shut up. I wrote some of these and those are the ones you’re going to laugh at.” Most of Koy’s fans are disappointed because of his horrendous performance. Since the incident, Koy has been named “Worst Host Ever” by many fans.
It was hard to watch, and the speech was disappointing. Jo Koy was the Golden Globes last choice to host. Even with about 10 days to write his speech with a team of writers, it still was unpleasant and uncomfortable. There were many other jokes they could have gone with, but instead chose the most offensive ones. The whole monologue was set up for failure from the moment Koy delivered his first line.
