Hosting a “tough crowd” of high-end celebrities is not a job for the dry and ill-prepared. The Golden Globes is a ceremony where celebrities, artists, actors, film producers, and more within the film industry gather to celebrate the past year accomplishments with awards for the media created. Oppenheimer was one of the bigger winners of The Golden Globes, receiving awards in the categories: Drama Motion Picture, Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, and Original Score. In this year, however, on January 7, the 2024 81st annual Golden Globes were less so a celebration and more so a cesspool of bad-taste jokes. 

It started as Jo Koy, a Filipino-American stand-up comedian, hosting The Golden Globes, a decision proven to be a mistake. Koy took on the last-minute role making very off-putting, unfunny, ironic jokes concerning the movies Oppenheimer, Barbie, and even the famous, self-made artist, Taylor Swift. As a Filipina-American who has attended one of his stand-up comedy shows, I saw him as a comedian that I, and many other Filipinos, could relate to. But disappointingly, he has degraded the makings of award winning, and world-nominated shows and artists out of “light-heartedness.”

In Koy’s hit and miss monologue, Koy commented, “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.” 

Contrary to his performance at The Golden Globes, I feel his other shows are very comical and enthusiastic; he cracks jokes that are socially relatable. He refers to funny stories involving his family and fame, stories that he encountered and made comebacks to. Koy has two shows produced through Netflix, Jo Koy: Comin’ in Hot 2017 and Jo Koy: In His Elements 2020, where he performs on big stages such as Blaisdell’s Centers arena in Hawaii and Chase Center in San Francisco. He gives mention to other Filipino-American actors and celebrities known within the industry throughout these shows and dives deep into the Filipino communities. 

As a result of his hosting during The Golden Globes, he received a heap of backlash. 

His response to NYT about this criticism is that the people who reacted with a muted sense of humor and senseless stares don’t know him as a person and don’t recognize the effort that he put into submitting in his monologue once before hosting the show. 

According to Koy, from the perspective of other professional comedians, they had approved of his monologue before he had turned it in even though there were some skeptical comments on the upbringing of Taylor Swift’s screen time and the NFL. 

“The difference between The Golden Globes and the NFL? At The Golden Globes, there’s fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift,” said Koy. 

Koy defends this line later addressing that he fully supports Taylor Swift and there was no ill-intent. He continues to address other press organizations that he honors the representation of women and how it allows people like his mother to be represented through film. On the other hand, Swifty fans were not a fan of his belittling tone. 

I, a Filipina-American woman, constructed the understanding that Koy was rushed, and unsuited for the position. His effort to appease the audience was apparent, but his execution was poor. Although, it doesn’t define him as a person, Koy was definitely not coy to present himself at the Globes and it left many fans and at-home watchers unamused by his humor, leaving an everlasting impression on the stage.