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.
Taylor Swift takes a sip of her drink after Jo Koy's joke about her at the #GoldenGlobes.
— Variety (@Variety) January 8, 2024
"The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? At the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift." pic.twitter.com/d2TDVcUGv5
“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.
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 pic.twitter.com/WPsy0LVPvL
— TylerCWhitmore (@TylerCWhitmore) January 8, 2024
I keep thinking about Jo Koy throwing the writers under the bus last night. I can't imagine how much it would suck to only get 10 days to prepare then stand on a stage and bomb. But you take that on the chin. You don't blame other writers for it.
— @alishagrauso.bsky.social (@AlishaGrauso) January 8, 2024
ok so RE the Jo Koy thing: when writing for a standup in that format, the performer pretty much has carte blanche over what they say. they pick the jokes that go into the script. blaming his writers for his poor editorial choices/direction is both poor leadership and peak cringe
— Megan MacKay (@mmmegan) January 8, 2024
It was enough for some to wish for the return of longtime Golden Globes co-hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
Jo Koy’s monologue was one of the worst I’ve seen in a long time. Not only was he completely unfunny, he realised he was bombing + threw his writers under the bus + then tried to reduce the biggest film of the year to a boob joke.
— Nadia Business ?️??️⚧️ ❤️ (@nadiabusiness92) January 8, 2024
Bring back these two next time #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/OJS6oeGt2y
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."
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. This year, of all the years. Reductive, sexist, and cheap. Hate it. #GoldenGlobes
— Michelle Kinney (@MichelleKinney) January 8, 2024
"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.' "
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.
— Olivia, The Independent (@oliviakdes) January 8, 2024
It’s giving “I didn’t do the readings for class, but also talking during 85% of the class discussion”
all i’m gonna say is taylor swift and barbie will go down in history and
— TR (@swiftcena) January 8, 2024
jo koy or whatever his name is will fade into obscurity… #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/z1XwbOLkYJ
This shot is so brutal, as if someone from the control room knew Jo Koy was gonna bomb hard after the Barbie joke they made sure to get a wide shot of the audience. #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/u78k5vBS4l
— Dwight De Leon (@newsdwight) January 8, 2024
jo koy’s “joke” about the barbie movie is exactly why the barbie movie was made
— kember, the soup company (@KembOreo) January 8, 2024
infuriating
But really... is there anything worse than getting a reaction like this from Harrison Ford?
If Harrison Ford closed his eyes in pain at one of my jokes I would simply cease to exist https://t.co/Ps47vgLFmS
— ?Lydia M. Sigwarth? (@LibraryLydia) January 8, 2024
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.
