The big difference between Jo Koy and Taylor Swift is that everyone knew of Taylor Swift before the 2024 Golden Globes.
The 2024 award show season started with Jo Koy’s misogynistic bang of an opening monologue for this year’s Golden Globes. I was left not impressed with the award show this year.
Koy made jokes during his monologue about the “Barbie” movie and other female stars that “fell flat with both attendees and viewers at home.” The biggest night of his career culminated in an audience of blank faces and the need for a laughing soundtrack.
Hosts for these events are under a lot of pressure; however, the dialogue presented did not hold up to Golden Globes standards. Koy’s jokes about the “Barbie” movie, a film highlighting unrealistic expectations for women and patriarchy, missed the whole point of the movie. A jab was later made comparing Taylor Swift to the NFL, which received an emotionless stare from Swift and hate from the Swifties.
Koy was a late hire for the Golden Globes, hired just two weeks before the show. After performing, he blamed his poor opening speech on a lack of time and his writers. From a college student’s perspective, the time factor is not a solid explanation. I have had to complete an assignment in a short period and still received a solid grade on multiple occasions.
To succeed within a quick turnaround, I take my assignments seriously. It seems Koy didn’t take hosting the Golden Globes as seriously as needed. Across TikTok, many content creators have been showing how easy it is to make better versions of Koy’s jokes during shorter periods.
A couple of days later, Koy’s ex girlfriend Chelsea Handler made a joke at the Critics Choice Awards stating, “Thank you for laughing at that, my writers wrote it.” Even with only a short period to plan her script, Handler was still able to make a funny and relevant jab.
At the same time, this year’s Golden Globes highlights the decline in popularity of award shows. I wouldn’t have noticed it if Koy hadn’t made terrible commentary that showed up all over social media. Judging by the audience’s reactions, it seemed like many of the attendees did not want to be there, whether that was due to the event or the jokes.
In the future, I hope the Golden Globes are better prepared to prevent an awards ceremony similar to this year. A host needs to be hired that will not make controversial remarks, but instead, make the audience actually enjoy being there.
Popular comedians like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have hosted the Golden Globes together many times, most recently in 2021. While they were still making comments about attendees, they presented jabs that were not attacking anyone. A good host, of any event, needs to find a good balance of making jokes without being rude.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love watching award shows and seeing some of my favorite TV shows and movies get highlighted. These events are always entertaining, whether from the outfits or jokes made during or afterward. Therefore, the Golden Globes should be revised so that they are less of a disaster in the future. A part of this could be hiring a comedian who understands the “Barbie” movie was more than just “a plastic doll with big boobies.”
