Golden Globes host Jo Koy's performance labeled a 'near-total disaster' online: 'Reductive, sexist and cheap'

News outlets and social media users panned The Golden Globes host Jo Koy on Sunday for a series of jokes that failed to connect with the audience of Hollywood stars. 

The 81st Golden Globe Awards were held Sunday, January 7, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, where Koy began his monologue by gushing over Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep while also listing off the names of films, shows, and nominees up for trophies. 

Koy then poked fun at "Saltburn" actor Barry Keoghan as well as "Maestro" star Bradley Cooper. The crowd appeared uncomfortable when Joy, referencing the Martin Scorsese film "Killers of the Flower Moon," made a joke about White people stealing things from minorities. During the joke, the host noted that the audience of stars was "really White."

Another joke about race didn't quite land when Koy praised "Succession," describing the HBO show as a story about "a dysfunctional rich White family, all scheming — oh wait, that's 'The Crown.'"

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Comedian Jo Koy hosts the 81st Golden Globes on January 7, 2024. (Getty Images)

After a lukewarm reaction from the crowd, some eventually began to chuckle, prompting Koy to say, "I got the gig ten days ago, you want a perfect monologue? I wrote some of these, and they're the ones you're laughing at."

In response to the much-criticized performance, IndieWire reported that the Globes had a "rocky start," while Vanity Fair called the award show a "near-total disaster."

Vanity Fair writer Richard Lawson called Koy's monologue a "horrid, sophomoric mishmash of lazy jokes" that were met with "limp applause."

"It was a sour, seemingly deathless few minutes, so bleak and awkward that I was ready to deem the entire evening a disastrous, perhaps fatal dud," he added. 

Business Insider also published a less-than-flattering headline: "Jo Koy was the wrong host for the Golden Globes and his 'jokes' about Taylor Swift and ‘Barbie’ prove it."

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Taylor Swift did not appear impressed by Jo Koy's joke about her.  (Getty Images)

"The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL – on the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift," Koy joked about the singer, who seemed unamused, although it was unclear if she was simply deadpanning for the camera.

He also characterized Barbie as a doll with "big boobs."

Social media users were also less than impressed by Koy's jokes. 

"I had never heard of Jo Koy before tonight and now I know why #GoldenGlobes," Republican communicator Matt Whitlock remarked.

"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," one user wrote.

NPR TV critic Eric Deggans wrote, "Jo Koy is a great comic, but i’m not sure he’s used to working a showbiz crowd hosting the #GoldenGlobes. His monologue wasn’t biting enough but also was a little too biting in the same moment. Tougher gig than it looks."

"Days Of Our Lives" actress Deidre Hall wrote on Facebook, ""The Globes Globes host, jo koy, is a complete embarrassment to himself and the Academy. Skip it."

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Former television writer Chase Mitchell joked, "I feel like nobody was in charge of the golden globes and Jo Koy just walked in and said ‘I’m hosting’ and nobody bothered to check if that was right."

"So here’s my #GoldenGlobes thread and I want to buy Jo Koy a shot right now so he won’t have to finish this awkward monologue," Baltimore Banner columnist Leslie Gray Streeter commented.

"I think there's something wrong with my TV, I don't hear the audience laughing at the end of Jo Koy's jokes," Barstools Sports host Jeff D. Lowe wrote.

Outlets reviewing the show were no less withering; Slate wrote he "felt painfully out of place in front of the high-powered crowd, digging himself into an immediate hole with feeble gags," while The Atlantic wrote, "Hosting a Hollywood awards show isn’t always a disaster, but Koy’s dreadful performance proved the thanklessness of the job. And given his late hiring, he was especially unsuited for the task."

This is the first Golden Globes ceremony since the formal dissolution of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which was criticized for a lack of Black voting members and investigated for corruption in 2021. 

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The Golden Globes announced Koy as the host on December 21, 2023, after several other prospective hosts declined. This is the first time the stand-up comedian has hosted a major award show.