Sexist remark on 'Barbie', jab at Taylor Swift: Why Golden Globe host Jo Koy’s jokes backfired

Standup comedian Jo Koy who hosted the 81st Golden Globe Awards ceremony at Beverly Hills in Los Angeles found himself in an embarrassing situation after most of his jokes backfired during the event. Though his opening monologue did elicit a few laughs, a large section of the audience did not seem to be amused largely by the jokes. Some lines were even met with groans from the audience.

The American comic started his monologue by reminding the audience how Meryl Streep always took home the awards. He then zeroed in on ‘Oppenheimer’ and said the film just ‘was one hour too long’. Christopher Nolan who was sitting in the front row did not seem to be amused by Koy’s review of his film.

His joke on ‘Barbie’ did not go down well with netizens either. Many slammed Koy for being sexist and crass with his jokes. ‘Barbie is a movie about a plastic doll with big boobies.” Though Margot Robbie could be seen smiling, it was evident she didn’t like the joke at all. Her co-star Ryan Gosling and ‘Barbie’ director Golda Gerwig too seemed annoyed.

“The key moment in Barbie is when she goes from perfect beauty to cellulite and flat feet - or what casting directors call 'character acting',” he said. When his joke didn’t elicit any laughter, Koy soon became defensive. “You're kidding me, right? Slow down. I wrote some of these and they are the ones you are laughing at,” he said.

Koy also rubbed Taylor Swift the wrong way when he poked fun at Taylor Swift’s relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce. Netizens shared clippings showing Swift sipping on a glass of water and looking irritated.

Koy made a jab at the ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’, which is a movie based on the Osage killings and the whites quest for supremacy. 'One thing I learned from that movie is that white people stole everything. You took the land, you took the oil, you took the premise of the movie,” he said. He then went on 'What, that was your premise? That's hilarious. I don’t care. It's just that the room is really white,” he said. Veteran actor Robert De Niro, however, did not seem to mind when Koy said the actor delivered his best performance till date. “Man, how did you get her pregnant at 80?,” asked Koy to the smiling veteran star who recently fathered a baby with girlfriend Tiffany Chen.