You probably don’t remember the 81st Golden Globes, held on Jan. 7., But you probably remember seeing memes and internet discourse over Jo Koy’s monologue. It was contentious, dull, and harsh, setting a tone for a night that failed to impress even the celebrities in the audience.
Jo Koy started the night like most hosts do, playing oh so profoundly into the celebrity ribbing, and no one was safe, not even Meryl Streep. Diminishing Streep’s hard work and success in two seconds, saying she wins all the time. The two jokes that have the internet in a tizzy were made about Taylor Swift and the Barbie movie.
The Swift joke was made slightly after the monologue returning from commercial break. Swift has recently been seen dating Travis Kelce and attending his football games with the Kansas City Chiefs. At the games, Swift is shown in the box numerous times, the NFL joking they are her biggest fan. The Golden Globes came on after a football game, and Koy decided to use this as an opportunity to bash Swift. “The big difference between the Golden Gloves and the NFL. On the Golden Globes, we have more camera shots to go to than Taylor Swift. I swear, there’s just more to go to here.” After briefly pausing, he said, “I’m sorry about that.” Koy later said the joke was to bash the NFL for invading Swift’s privacy, but regardless, that is not how it came off. Swift did not comment or make any expression when this joke was made. She simply took a sip of her drink.
The biggest misogynist joke of the night started at Oppenheimer and ended at Barbie. Koy first ripped into Oppenheimer, saying it answered a question he had been wondering for years, “…yes, scientists do get laid. As long as they look like Cillian Murphey.” He then goes on to say how Oppenheimer is based on an excellently rated Pulitzer Prize-winning book, and Barbie is based on a doll with “big boobies.”
After a joke about “Barbies big boobies” fell flat, Koy didn’t seem to get the hint he should move on. Instead, he laid into Barbie more, saying it was awkward for him to be attracted to a plastic doll and to close your eyes the whole show. He continued even more, telling Margot Robbie, “… it’s not always about you.”. Unfortunately, you think that would be the end, but it wasn’t. He said when Barbie got “…bad breasts, cellulite, and flat feet…” that was what character actors were, discrediting all the hard work they do.
As you can imagine, the sexist and unfunny jokes Koy made even the audience didn’t like. We can see that when the camera pans to a wide-angle shot. Visibly now nervous and seemingly upset, Koy backtracks on stage, saying, “Some I wrote, some others wrote.” He tried to continue but then became upset going off-script “Yo, I got the gig ten days ago, you want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up. You’re kidding me, right? Slow down. I wrote some of these, and they’re the ones you are laughing at.” The laugh track in the background added to the very uncomfortable atmosphere.
Funny enough, Koy’s bad joke highlighted what the Barbie movie was about. As the internet pointed out, the Barbie movie is about how hard it is to be a woman with the standards society sets. The movie says, “It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are beautiful and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.”
