The 81st Golden Globes were held on Sunday, Jan. 7. Awkward silences repeatedly fell over the star-studded room due to jokes told by the event host, Jo Koy.  

Koy is a 52-year-old popular comedian with six comedy specials on Netflix and Comedy Central. His comedic style is to tell jokes about everyday life, Asian-American culture and human behavior. However, Koy took a different approach in his Golden Globes monologue, resembling a poorly done roast. 

According to Koy, he signed on the opportunity to host the Globes only ten days before the show. He admitted to not having watched any of the shows and movies honored at the 2024 Golden Globes until he officially contracted the job — which is a red flag. 

The job of host should go to someone who knows enough about the biggest movies of the year, not a man who completely missed the entire point of the “Barbie” movie. Which brings me to my first question.

Did Jo Koy even watch “Barbie”?

The ‘Barbenheimer’ craze swept the nation over the summer and blew audiences away, grossing a combined 1.1 billion dollars at the box office worldwide. In fact, these movies competed for Cinematic Box Office achievement at the Globes. Despite their success, Koy could not allow the presentation of the movies to go unscathed. 

Koy allowed “Oppenheimer” — a male-starring and male-directed film — to slide with a predictable dig at the movie’s run time. However, our lovely host could not help but completely dismantle the feminist message behind “Barbie” with several revolting jokes. 

“‘Oppenheimer’ is based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project,” Koy said. “And ‘Barbie’ is on a plastic doll with big boobies.”

The audience cringed at Koy’s joke, and the camera panned to an uncomfortable Greta Gerwig — the director of “Barbie.” 

What was he thinking? 

Did he not hear America Ferrera’s beautiful speech explaining how complicated and frustrating it is to be a woman in a patriarchal society? Her speech is quite literally the whole point of the movie! Don’t worry — the Globes host continued to dig his own grave. 

“I watched ‘Barbie’ — I loved it. I really did love it. I don’t want you guys to think that I’m a creep, but it was weird being attracted to a plastic doll … just something about your eyes Ryan [Gosling].” Koy said.

Guess what Koy? You definitely came off as a creep. Margot Robbie’s gracious smile isn’t fooling anybody into believing that joke didn’t make the whole room — and millions of viewers at home — uncomfortable. 

Koy also chimed in with his view of “Barbie” by saying that “the key moment in ‘Barbie’ is when she goes from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite and flat feet. Or, what casting directors call a character actor.”

Once again, you claim to have watched the movie, but its message completely went over your head! For a man who is trying to critique the privilege of Hollywood, you are a complete hypocrite. 

It is men like Koy who push women into the shadows and judge their worth solely on unrealistic beauty standards.  But it doesn’t stop there.

Not only did Koy say those sexist jokes but he did not own up to them.

The man threw his writers under the bus!

Koy started to crumble and lash out at the crowd in an embarrassing spiral. He followed his “Barbie” jokes by clarifying, “some I wrote, some other people wrote.” 

As he tried to move on to his next bit, the crowd’s groans got to him. 

“I got the gig 10 days ago — you want a perfect monologue? Shut up! You are kidding me, right?” Koy said. “I wrote some of these, and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”

You are kidding me, right? Throwing the writers under the bus only made Koy look worse! Your job is to make jokes, yet you took the lazy approach and criticized and objectified women. You can’t blame your writers for that.

Koy got me with his “Crown” joke

Not all of Koy’s jokes were terrible, however. His earlier jokes pushed the audience to hesitate before laughing. I can admit that I laughed at Koy’s joke aimed at the British royal family. 

“How great was Imelda Staunton in ‘The Crown?’ Wasn’t she amazing? Her portrayal of the queen was so good Prince Harry called her and asked her for money,” Koy said. 

I admit it! I laughed! This joke praised Staunton for her work and didn’t degrade women. However, Koy couldn’t stop rambling. 

“Like I said — I didn’t write all of these. That one is not mine.” he admitted. 

Dude! Don’t blame the writers for the good jokes! 

Taylor Swift has ‘Bad Blood’ with Koy

Finally, one of the biggest reasons for the Koy backlash was Blondie and the Swifties. We all have seen Taylor cheering on her tight-end boyfriend Travis Kelce from the Kansas City Chiefs. I think the jabs at the power couple were overplayed, but Koy decided to lay in one more. 

“The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL — on the Golden Globes we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.”

Taylor Swift reacted by giving a disapproving look and sipping her drink. Selena Gomez had her face in her hands and the crowd groaned. 

Don’t go after Miss Americana without understanding the consequences. 

Koy should take notes from John Mulaney

At the 14th annual Governors Awards, John Mulaney hosted and delivered controversial jokes the right way. That Tuesday night, Angela Bassett was rightfully awarded an honorary Oscar for her performance in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Mulaney refrained from insulting and undermining Bassett’s accomplishment.

“Here’s what a great actor Angela Bassett is — she got an Oscar nomination for a Marvel movie,” Mulaney said. “That is like getting a Pulitzer Prize for a Reddit comment.” 

Mulaney did not target Bassett and her performance but attacked Marvel, a major corporation bleeding money. They can handle the heat. When cameras panned to Bassett, she was genuinely laughing and not cringing like the cast of “Barbie.” 

What did we learn?

After his performance, Koy claimed that he would never host again. He blamed the elitist audience for doubting his respect for women and not understanding that he was only making jokes. Well, guess what? Putting women down is not a funny joke. 

Unfortunately, millions of men agree with Koy’s “Barbie” and Taylor Swift jokes. Koy misused his platform. He was a rookie on the stage for blaming his sexist monologue on the writers. 

Koy may claim to never host again, but I doubt he’ll be getting any offers. Koy should pop some popcorn and give “Barbie” another watch. That way he’ll really understand why he will never host again.