On January 7th, the Golden Globes kicked off the 2024 awards season. It was a night of excitement and big wins, all hosted by comedian and actor Jo Koy. Some of the positive parts of the night include Lily Gladstone becoming the first Indigenous person to be nominated for and win Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for her role in Killers of the Flower Moon, Billie Eilish becoming just the fourth woman to win twice in the Best Original Song category with her song “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie, and Timothee Chalamet becoming the youngest man to have been nominated for all three possible film categories, his nomination for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture- Musical or Comedy for his role in Wonka being the third nomination in his career.
Despite the wonderful record-breaking wins and nominations, there was much backlash about the hosting of the show. Jo Koy made many insensitive and sexist jokes, which fell short to the audience and people watching at home. To open the ceremony, Koy quipped, “‘Oppenheimer’ is based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book on the Manhattan Project. ‘Barbie’ is about a plastic doll with big boobies.” This comment not only invalidated the entire goal of Barbie– to break down gender roles and sexist viewpoints- but also led to deep discomfort among the audience, who were shocked by the objectifying “joke.” The Barbie cast members reacted in different ways, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig managing weak smiles in response to the disgustingly sexualizing joke, while Ryan Gosling kept a straight face. The room stayed mostly silent, with no echoing laughter. Despite the resounding silence from the audience, Koy continued: “The key moment in ‘Barbie’ is when she goes from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite, and flat feet, or what casting directors call character acting.” For those who do not know, a character actor is an actor who plays an unusual character rather than a leading role. By saying this, Koy was implying that Barbie was not the main character in the movie. This comment downplayed the importance of the main character, Barbie, who has become a role model for girls all over the world.
Koy also felt called to comment on Taylor Swift’s presence at the ceremony. Swift’s Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film was nominated for the new category, “Cinematic and Box Office Achievement.” Despite her losing to Barbie in the category, Swift showed her support for the winners and gave them a standing ovation. However, Koy took a cheap shot at Swift in his monologue. “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL?” Koy questioned. Letting his punch line drop, Koy responded to his question: “At the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.” In reaction, Swift kept a straight face and sipped her drink; a reaction the media interpreted as “bitchy” and “rude.” Koy’s comment comes in response to Swift’s relationship with Chiefs’ tight-end Travis Kelce and the tiny amount of coverage she has gotten during the games she has attended. She has been verbally attacked both at the games and online for “taking screen time from the game,” despite her lack of control over where the cameras focus.
In response to the backlash, Jo Koy commented, “I’d be lying if it doesn’t hurt… We just had ten days to try and write something for this monologue. It was a crash course. I feel bad, but I gotta say that I still loved what I did.” Some have excused Koy’s jokes, saying that the Golden Globes may have written the jokes and given them to him to present as his own. Others insist that the Golden Globes would not have written such sexist jokes and that Koy must have written them. Either way, it is generally agreed that the jokes were misogynist in nature, a disappointing move by the Golden Globes. One can only hope that the hosting at the upcoming Grammys and Oscars honors women rather than tears them down.
