The 81st Golden Globe Awards, an annual recognition of the outstanding achievements of actors, producers, singers, and their works, were held on January 7, 2024, in Beverly Hills, California. A-list celebrities such as Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling, Timothée Chalamet, Margot Robbie, and Taylor Swift attended the event, many of whom were recognized for their performances. Some movies nominated for awards included Barbie, Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, Poor Things, Saltburn, and Past Lives (New York Post). With celebrities dressed and ready in their iconic formal attire, fans were prepared for the night to be perfect. However, within the first few minutes of the event, that idea would prove to be mistaken.
Jo Koy, an American standup comedian from Washington, was called to host the Golden Globes Awards only a few weeks prior to the event, and therefore, had very limited time to prepare for the mainstream performance. His lack of preparation and poise showed during his opening speech, wherein he made many inappropriate and poorly received jokes. He described Oppenheimer as a film “based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project,” and Barbie as a film about “a plastic doll with big boobies.” Later on, he made vulgar jokes about Barry Keoghan’s on-screen nudity in Saltburn and Robert De Niro’s dating life, causing many, including Selena Gomez, to shake their heads and grimace. The comedian even got a glare from Taylor Swift after he commented on her having more camera time during NFL games than the Golden Globes. With each joke, the camera panned to the unamused audience. In response to their obvious disappointment, he stated, “I got the gig 10 days ago! You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up!” (Newsweek).
English teacher Mrs. Schwarz reflected on Koy’s loss of composure. She thinks that “Hosting seems to be a lose-lose situation,” and believes “we need to be kinder to those who say ‘yes.’” Senior Addi Palmer had much more to say on that matter: “What I found extremely disrespectful about Jo Koy’s comments is that he praised films like Oppenheimer and Killers Of The Flower Moon, which were both phenomenal films, by the way, but the second he commented about Barbie, he started making comments about Barbie’s transformation from pretty and plastic to old and having cellulite. He made inappropriate comments about both the actors and the film itself, making everyone in that room uncomfortable and upset. I don’t understand why they didn’t pull him off the stage after everything he said.” Palmer wants to be a director herself, something she says is “not easy, especially with it feeling like the industry is moving backward with moments like this. I cannot express how disappointed and upset I was at the Golden Globes for allowing this type of behavior to happen.”
Jo Koy recognized his controversial speech: “It’s a tough room. It was a hard job… getting that gig and then having the amount of time that we had to prepare… I wanted to give a little bit more of me and I fell a little short, and that’s all” (The Daily Beast). He also apologized on Instagram: “I’m sorry to all of Taylor’s fans and to Taylor herself. I didn’t mean any harm or anything malicious when I said what I said, it was just a harmless joke that’s now ended up everywhere” (The Daily Beast).
Hosting a national event is unquestionably a difficult task, but it also brings fame and recognition to those who try. Like Oscar Wilde once said, “There’s only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
