Yikes! Fil-Am Comedian Jo Koy Faces Backlash After ‘Cringe’ Jokes at the Golden Globes
Jan 8, 2024 • Kyzia Maramara
Jan 8, 2024 • Kyzia Maramara
In any other situation, Pinoys would’ve been thumping their chests with pride seeing Jo Koy host the prestigious Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles. But after the “absolutely awful,” “cringe,” and borderline insulting jokes the Filipino-American comedian dished out in his monologue, it’s safe to say Pinoys are distancing themselves from him.
Koy (real name Joseph Glenn Herbert Sr.) was announced on Dec. 21 as the award show’s pick for a host and the move isn’t exactly surprising. With a total of six stand-up specials on Netflix and Comedy Central combined, this guy already has a rep for keeping folks entertained. So what exactly happened for the Internet to drop him like a hot potato?
“barbie is based on a girl with big plastic boobies” MEN STFU AND NEVER SPEAK ON ANYTHING RELATED TO WOMEN.
— . (@womeninfiction) January 8, 2024
Not even three minutes into his opening monologue, Koy took a jab at Barbie, saying it was a film “based on a plastic doll with big boobies.” The camera, then, cuts to Barbie director, Greta Gerwig, visibly uncomfortable with someone including her life’s work as a punchline for a misogynistic joke. Ironic, too, especially with the movie’s themes of female empowerment.
But Koy had an even more cringe follow-up: “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.'” Selena Gomez cringed so hard on this one she had to put her head in her hands:
Selena Gomez reacts to comedian Jo Koy’s #GoldenGlobes monologue.
— Buzzing Pop (@BuzzingPop) January 8, 2024
After the Barbie joke landed flat on an unimpressed audience — Koy already lost them and everyone online — the comedian was quick to hang his writers out to dry. “Some I wrote, some other people wrote,” he murmured into the mic, justifying the words coming out of his mouth. He also revealed he only had 10 days to prepare for the monologue hence, it’s a bit rough.
Golden Globes host Jo Koy just went off-script after one of his jokes bombed: “I got the gig 10 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’re laughing at.”#GoldenGlobes2024 pic.twitter.com/K6DIDtdCes
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) January 8, 2024
“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’re laughing at,” he said.
Later, Marlow Stern of the Rolling Stones would write that Koy was met with boos and jeers from the crowd.
“Standup comedy should be illegal and this is evidence,” wrote one person on X.
“That was painful to watch,” said another. What they didn’t know at that time was that it was going to be a lot more painful because Koy wasn’t finished yet.
Taylor Swift takes a sip of her drink after Jo Koy’s joke about her at the #GoldenGlobes.
“The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? At the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.” pic.twitter.com/d2TDVcUGv5
— Variety (@Variety) January 8, 2024
Taylor Swift’s name somehow always makes its way into the punchline for comedians, scriptwriters, late-night hosts, and comedy specials everywhere. Guess that’s what naturally happens when you’re the pillar of pop culture. Koy was no different.
“The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? At the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift,” he joked.
And Taylor Swift? She was unbothered, drinking her champagne. She knew by now not to tolerate jokes made at her expense. However, Swifties online are a different thing and Koy might be surprised to see the sheer number of mentions on his X notifications.
If the Philippines doesn’t get an Eras Tour date, I’m blaming Jo Koy. https://t.co/kBIX26nNzA
— Pholop (@pmjamilla) January 8, 2024
everyone live tweeting this jo koy monologue #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/EjzYZWwIER
— kathleen (@kathleen_hanley) January 8, 2024
In his 10-minute monologue, Koy also took a jab at Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic nose while playing Leonard Bernstein in Maestro, saying it looked like it belonged to a scene from Saltburn. Folks on X criticized him for antisemitism. He also cracked a joke about The Color Purple, Steven Spielberg’s coming-of-age film, and compared it to the color of someone’s bottom after taking Ozempic, a drug for treating diabetes and also Hollywood’s favorite weight loss hack.
Bottomline: Folks weren’t pleased. If the awkward silence at the Golden Globes was enough to make Koy keep apologizing and saying he didn’t write the jokes, he would have a heart attack going online. Koy managed to trend his name alongside the word “Cringe” and that’s just in the Philippines.
Check out these scathing posts criticizing his Golden Globes hosting:
Never invite Jo Koy to one of these again please. So, so awful. pic.twitter.com/Oqhpeiosp5
— Sethsfilmreviews (@sethsfilmreview) January 8, 2024
So far Jo Koy has insulted Taylor Swift, the woman responsible for the highest-grossing music tour EVER, and the women responsible for the highest grossing film in Warner Bros history — Barbie. This year, of all the years. Reductive, sexist, and cheap. Hate it. #GoldenGlobes
— Michelle Kinney (@MichelleKinney) January 8, 2024
my grandma survived WWII and she’s never seen a filipino bomb this hard
— alex (@alex_abads) January 8, 2024
The vibe in that room right now. Everyone HATES him
— sam greisman (@SAMGREIS) January 8, 2024
SOMEONE CALL WILL SMITH pic.twitter.com/q7lErvVt9y
— Matilda (@bytaylorsdesign) January 8, 2024
i have never in my life heard of a jo koy, but suddenly i am ready to campaign for him to never work in hollywood again. i’m so sick of the misogyny in 2024 when 2023 was literally the year of Barbie + Taylor Swift, the year it felt like womanhood was finally being celebrated… pic.twitter.com/lfQRHHoUZh
— savannah claims SLUT! and Is It Over Now? (@SavannahLovely) January 8, 2024
If you want to check out his whole monologue, you can find it here.
Jo Koy has yet to comment on the backlash but everyone is convinced he won’t be invited to host for an awards show any time soon.
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Kyzia spends most of her time capturing the world around her through photos, paragraphs, and playlists. She is constantly on the hunt for the perfect chocolate chip cookie, and a great paperback thriller to pair with it.
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