The Golden Globe Awards, the first major awards show of the season, aired on January 7, 2024, to mixed reception worldwide. Held annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the awards acknowledge Hollywood’s best in television and film. Oppenheimer won five awards, including best actor and supporting actor, while Poor Things and The Holdovers each won two awards. On the TV side, The Bear, Beef, and Succession each swept their respective categories, while Barbie took home Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, the HFPA’s new award that was seen as a blatant way to recognize the film. 

The majority of the press around the Golden Globes, however, focused on the show’s host and his opening monologue. Longtime stand-up comedian Jo Koy was asked to host just ten days before the ceremony. Koy faced intense criticism after he included jokes in his speech about the feminism in Barbie and media coverage of Taylor Swift.

Barbie, one of the most popular movies of the year, earned its fame for a witty but heartfelt portrayal of femininity through the lens of one of the world’s most popular dolls. In his monologue, Koy confronts the movie’s feminist ideals, describing the movie as “going from beauty to bad breath, cellulite, and flat feet” and referring to the various actresses that play versions of Barbie as “character actors.” As expected, the joke did not go over well, with the camera cutting to singer Selena Gomez and actress Helen Mirren looking unimpressed. This was not the only joke made in bad taste. Taylor Swift, nominated for her movie Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, recently started dating NFL superstar Travis Kelce. Koy joked about how the Golden Globes shows “less shots of Taylor Swift” than the NFL does, and the cameras panned to an unamused Swift. This joke received even more pushback than the previous one, and producers responded quickly to the situation by trimming his air time for the remainder of the show. 

Although the jokes were not well-received, Koy’s response to the situation was arguably worse; Koy blamed the writers behind the ceremony for the lackluster jokes. After writers ended their five-month strike, many people took offense at Koy’s refusal to take responsibility. He later responded to the issue, saying that he would “be lying” if he said the criticism didn’t “hurt” and discussed how he never wanted to “host an awards show again.”