Lights, camera disaster! On Jan. 7, the 81st Golden Globe Awards aired live on CBS. For many, this lavish affair brings elegant attire, recognition and laughter. However, a smile was hard to come by due to the lack of humor present throughout the hosting of the event. Instead of a mic drop, the only thing heard was a pen drop in response to host Jo Koy.
Koy is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Although he has had comedy specials released on both Netflix and Comedy Central, it is hard to imagine those would be worth a watch after his catastrophe of a hosting job. Significant controversy has arised from that night, starting with the opening monologue and continuing throughout the night. From the reviews and facial expressions, it is clear that countless people were disgusted with Koy’s attempts at comedy.
Many are bashing Koy online for his comments throughout the entirety of the show. To kick off the night, Koy opened with a monologue about how much he has dreamed of hosting the Golden Globes. However, one would have thought he had never watched the show based on his so-called humor and opinion present throughout the speech.
Koy made continuous remarks about the several movies that took place throughout the year, but instead of celebrating them, he seemed to only find words of critique. Barbie and Oppenheimer were to be the talk of the night. Both successful box office movies were nominated for Golden Globe awards; however, Koy had some complaints. When mentioning Oppenheimer, he made a fuss about the total running time of the movie.
“I loved Oppenheimer,” Koy said, “I just got one complaint:[it] needed another hour.”
Although some mustered up a laugh, most of the audience met him with awkward silence. The “jokes” did not stop there, he started targeting Barbie with inappropriate gags that both women and men took offense to.
“Oppenheimer is based on a 721-page, Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project,” he said, “and Barbie is on a plastic doll with big [sic].”
Koy babbled on about how weird it was to be “attracted to a plastic doll.” This not only made women in the audience uncomfortable, it belittled the message conveyed throughout the movie.
These jokes most likely would have been forgivable had Koy taken responsibility for his comments. However, he instead chose to blame the writers for the lack of laughs. When he noticed that the crowd did not seem to find his jokes amusing, he went on to say that it was because he got the job of hosting ten days before the Golden Globes, and the audience should not expect a “perfect monologue.”
“I wrote some of these [jokes], and they’re the ones you’re laughing at,” Koy said.
According to the expressions on celebrities’ faces, it is hard to imagine they were laughing at anything coming out of Koy’s mouth that night. After the five month strike writers endured, a comment like that was inappropriate and unnecessary during the Golden Globes.
As the night progressed, he then went on to embarrass big name stars such as Ryan Reynolds, Berry Keoghan and Oprah Winfrey. In addition, he also made a quip during the show about Taylor Swift that generated a negative reaction from fans. In this encounter, Koy compared the NFL to the Golden Globes.
“At the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift,” Koy said.
Even if the audience were not fans of Swift, anyone can see just how offensive a comment like that could be taken. This, along with the other offensive comments made that night, goes to show just how disgraceful Koy was at hosting.
The Golden Globes bring many people around the world together. Even if one is not a celebrity experiencing this night firsthand, viewers are still able to feel a part of this momentous night through their screen. Although people were watching from across the globe, due to the distasteful hosting, it definitely wasn’t golden.
Contact Abby Evans at [email protected]
