Steve Martin Tips His Hat to Jo Koy Following Golden Globes Criticism

Summary

• Steve Martin and Whoopi Goldberg defend Jo Koy’s Golden Globes hosting gig, acknowledging the challenges of hosting a live awards show.
• Despite criticism, Koy admits his performance wasn’t his best and feels remorseful, but emphasizes the difficulty of the hosting position.
• Koy’s jokes about Taylor Swift and Barbie received backlash, but Barbie director Greta Gerwig agrees with his comment about the doll’s construction.

There’s been plenty of critiques directed at Jo Koy’s Golden Globes hosting gig, but some are coming to the comedian’s defense. Koy, who was asked just weeks before host the January 7th Golden Globe Awards, has been criticized for his jokes, particularly those aimed at Taylor Swift and Barbie; some have called Koy’s commentary misogynistic and cheap. But, according to Steve Martin, who has hosted the Academy Awards three times, hosting a live show is tough, and Koy deserves some grace. Through a Threads post, Martin shared:

“I tip my hat to anyone who steps out on stage to host a live awards show. It’s a very difficult job and not for the squeamish. I know because I’m still throwing up from the last time I did it in 2010.

So, congratulations to Jo Koy, who took on the toughest gig in show business, hit, missed, was light on his feet, and now has twenty minutes of new material for his stand up!”

Whoopi Goldberg, who did not watch the 2024 Golden Globes, also chimed in to support Koy. On The View, she called hosting gigs “brutal” before adding:

“I don’t know if it was the room. I don’t know whether it was the jokes. I didn’t get to see it. But I do know that he is as good as it gets when it comes to stand-up.”

Koy has admitted that his work on the Golden Globes wasn’t his best. During an appearance on GMA3: What You Need to Know he stated he had an “off night” and felt that he “fell a little short.”

“It was a hard job, I’m not going to lie … I’d be lying if [I said] it doesn’t hurt. I hit a moment there where I was like, ‘Ah.’ Hosting is just a tough gig. Yes, I’m a stand-up comic but that hosting position — it’s a different style. I kind of went in and did the writer’s thing. We had 10 days to write this monologue. It was a crash course. I feel bad,” Koy said.

Related: Barbie: How Its Oscar Chances Were Boosted in a Major Way

Jo Koy’s Most Scrutinized Offenses: Taylor Swift and Barbie

Two of Koy’s jokes have been the primary sources of scrutiny. One included Taylor Swift: Koy asked what the big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL was and then joked:

“At the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.”

The camera quickly panned to Swift, who was nominated for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement for her concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, who seemed unimpressed with Koy’s commentary.

The other of Koy’s jokes that sparked much backlash was aimed at Barbie (which won the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Award). ​​​​​​​

“‘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,” Koy said. “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’!”

​​​​​​​Some viewers took to social media to slam the comedian for his Barbie quip: many felt that his joke was reductive and overlooked the film’s point. However, Barbie director Greta Gerwig later said that Koy’s comment was not wrong:

“She’s the first doll that was mass-produced with breasts, so he was right on. And you know, I think that so much of the project of the movie was unlikely because it is about a plastic doll. Barbie by her very construction has no character, no story, she’s there to be projected upon.”

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