Celebs Weren’t Happy With The Golden Globes Barbie & Taylor Swift Jokes
Did anyone laugh?
Typically, the Golden Globes are a night for celebrating excellence in film and television. But apparently, the award show’s host, Jo Koy, didn’t get the memo. During his opening monologue, the comedian made several quips about the nominees that didn’t go over so well. Specifically, celebrities didn’t appreciate Koy’s Barbie and Taylor Swift jokes.
Although some light roasting is pretty typical for award show monologues, celebs appeared to think Koy’s jokes went a little too far. ICYMI, on Jan. 7, Koy attempted to poke fun at two of the most popular Golden Globes nominees: Barbie and Swift. And no one — least of all the celebs mentioned — appreciated it.
“The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL — on the Golden Globes we have fewer camera shots to Taylor Swift,” Koy joked during his monologue. The camera panned to Swift, who looked unimpressed and then took a sip of her drink.
Swift has previously commented on this (tired) NFL narrative. “I’m just there to support Travis,” she told Time about going to NFL games. “I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads, and Chads.”
Koy later addressed Swift’s reaction at the after-party. “Aww, man, it was cute. I was just saying it was cute,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “I was just saying it's less cutaways, that's all.”
The next day, Koy discussed the failed joke in more depth during a Jan. 8 interview with GMA3. “I think it was when the Taylor [Swift] one was just a little flat… It was a weird joke, I guess. But it was more on the NFL…I was trying to make fun of the NFL using cutaways and how the Globes didn’t have to do that. So it was more of a jab toward the NFL. But it just didn’t come out that way.”
The Swift joke wasn’t the only one didn’t go over so well. Koy dedicated a good chunk of his opening remarks to dissing the $1.44 billion-making Barbie movie. “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,” he joked.
Afterward, the cameraman panned to Barbie director Greta Gerwig, who looked disappointed by the reductive analysis.
“I watched Barbie. I loved it,” he continued. “But it was weird being attracted to a plastic doll. It’s something about your eyes, Ryan.” This quip did get a few laughs from the attendees, though Ryan Gosling himself seemed indifferent towards it.
Koy added, “Margot, it’s not always about you.” (This one also got a couple of laughs.) When the cameras cut to Margot Robbie, she seemed briefly taken aback before she started smiling.
Koy didn’t stop there. He continued, “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!”
At this point, Selena Gomez, Helen Mirren, and Emily Blunt could both be seen covering their head with their hands. Emma Stone, Harrison Ford, and Ayo Edeberi also seemed disappointed by the joke.
On a whole, the audience who looked unhappy about Koy’s comments. As one person on X, formerly called Twitter, pointed out, “This shot is so brutal.”
After the Barbie jokes, Koy actually interrupted his own monologue to defend himself. “Some I wrote, some other people wrote,” he said, launching into a Robert DeNiro joke before immediately circling back to defending himself some more. “Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago! You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up. You’re kidding me, right? I wrote some of these, and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”
The following morning, on Jan. 8, he said he had an “off night” during his interview with GMA3. When asked if he’d ever host the Golden Globes again, Koy said, “That’s a tough gig, I’m not going to lie.”
Koy added, “I love the art of standup. It was cool the opportunity came to me, but hosting is just a beast. That’s about it.” He continued, “I wanted to give a little bit more of me, and I fell a little short. That’s all.”
