Golden Globes Host Jo Koy Responds to Monologue Criticism: 'It's a Tough Room'

Published:Tue, 9 Jan 2024 / Source:https://www.ign.com/articles/golden-globes-host-jo-koy-responds-to-monologue-criticism-its-a-tough-room

While there was plenty of talk about big winners like Oppenheimer and Succession, one of the most prominent topics out of Sunday night's Golden Globes ceremony was host Jo Koy's opening monologue - and not for, er, flattering reasons.

The reactions in the room to Koy's routine were muted, and the ones online were brutal, with reviews calling his jokes "cringe-worthy," saying he seemed "out of his depth and a fish out of water," and criticizing his "weak joke-construction." It didn't take long for Jo Koy to trend on X/Twitter, with most of the posts critical.

For his part, Koy responded to the criticism during an interview the following morning with GMA3, saying he'd be lying if he said "it doesn’t hurt."

“Well, I had fun — you know, it was a moment that I’ll always remember,” he said. "It’s a tough room. It was a hard job, I’m not going to lie. Getting that gig, and then having the amount of time that we had to prepare — that was a crash course.”

Koy noted elsewhere in the interview - and during the monologue itself - that he only had 10 days to prepare.

“I hit a little moment there where I was like, ‘Ah, hosting is just a tough gig,’ ” Koy added. “Yes, I am a stand-up comic but that hosting position, it’s a different style.”

One joke in particular that didn't land well, either online or in the room, was one now-infamous jest about Taylor Swift: “As you know, we came on after a football doubleheader,” Koy said. “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? On the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift, I swear.”

Swift, whose relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was clearly being referenced, took a sip of her nonchalant drink after the joke... which quickly became a meme.

“I think it was when the Taylor one was just a little flat,” Koy said during the GMA3 interview when asked which moment was the roughest. “It was a weird joke, I guess. But it was more on the NFL. I was trying to make fun of the NFL using cutaways and how the Globes didn’t have to do that. So it was more of a jab toward the NFL. But it just didn’t come out that way.”

Tough Critics

While it's nice to see Koy being a good sport about it, it's no exaggeration to say his monologue was near-universally panned. At issue particularly were the Swift joke, one about Barbie ("Oppenheimer is based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project, and Barbie is on a plastic doll with big boobies"), and a jab at his own writers after said Barbie joke bombed.

"Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago, you want a perfect monologue?” he said. “Yo, shut up. You’re kidding me, right. Slow down. I wrote some of these, and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”

"The biggest lowlight of the night has to be Jo Koy, coming fresh off the monumental WGA strike, disgracefully throwing his writers under the bus," wrote @TylerCWhitmore on X/Twitter.

It was enough for some to wish for the return of longtime Golden Globes co-hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

The Barbie joke, though, maybe got the most severe backlash on social media.

"So far Jo Koy has insulted Taylor Swift, the woman responsible for the highest-grossing music tour EVER, and the women responsible for the highest grossing film in Warner Bros history — Barbie," wrote @MichelleKinney on X/Twitter. "This year, of all the years. Reductive, sexist, and cheap. Hate it."

"Jo Koy reducing the Barbie movie to a movie about 'big boobs' when the entire plot of Barbie is how difficult it is to be a woman in a men’s world," wrote @oliviakdes. "It’s giving 'I didn’t do the readings for class, but also talking during 85% of the class discussion.' "

But really... is there anything worse than getting a reaction like this from Harrison Ford?

In more celebratory news, check out the rest of our Golden Globes coverage, including a full list of winners and how Mark Hamill finally got to meet his Star Wars mother, Natalie Portman.

Thumbnail credit: Rich Polk/Golden Globes 2024/Golden Globes 2024 via Getty Images

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Source:https://www.ign.com/articles/golden-globes-host-jo-koy-responds-to-monologue-criticism-its-a-tough-room

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