The annual Golden Globes were hosted this year on Jan. 7 by Jo Koy. Koy was best known for being an American stand up comedian as well as an actor. Recently, Koy is better known for his comments at this year’s awards that many have labeled as sexist, regarding Margot Robbie as Barbie and Taylor Swift’s recent appearances at Kansas City Chiefs’ football games.
After hearing the comments Koy made about Robbie and Swift on live television, the internet has delved into discourse about men making rude comments about successful women.
The first comment that got people talking earlier this month was Koy’s reflections on Taylor Swift’s new presence in the NFL.
“We came on after a football doubleheader. The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL… On the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.” Koy said in his opening monologue at the live award show.
Swift’s presence at NFL games has been broadcasted since her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce began. Koy’s comment was met with silence and awkward laughter from the crowd, which he followed up by saying “sorry about that.”
Not only did Koy make this controversial remark about Taylor Swift, he also poked fun at Barbie, 2023’s highest grossing movie with well over 600 million dollars made in box offices across the country.
In discussing Barbie and Oppenheimer, another highly anticipated movie that came out of 2023, grossing over 300 million dollars in box offices last year, Koy made another joke that became controversial with viewers.
“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.” Koy said. “The key moment in Barbie is when she goes from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite, and flat feet. Or what casting directors call character actor!”
Received similarly to the joke about Swift, the crowd was unenthused with Koy’s remarks.
The jokes made about successful women in the entertainment industry at the award show left the public asking many questions. Barbie, a movie made to empower young girls and teach lessons in going from girlhood to adulthood was summed up this year at the Golden Globes as “a plastic doll with big boobies.”
Swift’s attendance at Chiefs games was similarly summed up by having too many camera shots on her rather than other people in the crowd, or shots of the game itself.
The remarks made by Koy at this year’s Golden Globes left viewers feeling disheartened seeing the way strong female actresses and singers can be summed up into short, out of touch and controversial “jokes”.