On January 7th, Jo Koy, a well-known comedian, hosted the 81st annual Golden Globes. However, while presenting, Koy made a joke about the two blockbusters movies who have gained significant media traction over the summer, Barbie, and Oppenheimer. While he praised Oppenheimer for being a film about a well awarded book based on the Manhattan project, he summed up the movie Barbie to that of just a doll, and only referred to the physical features of her chest. The room was still, and an awkward laugh was shared throughout the room.
Cast mate Ryan Gosling and director Greta Gerwig had a look of discomfort displayed as the camera panned to where they were seated. Koy’s remark was an attempt to sexualize the movie, to try and show that the only way the movie could be interesting is if it had appealed to the male gaze. His blatant disrespect for Barbie, a movie that demonstrates the idea of patriarchy and the damage it inflicts, is so oblivious to the message that director, Greta Gerwig, had put in the movie.
Koy’s behavior perfectly displays the ignorance and disrespect that most men are constantly outputting into their environment. Although this exhibit of ignorance is disappointing, it was not a shock at any point. The accepted and nurtured idea of toxic masculinity is something that I’ve seen before. I thought that the joke was tacky and cowardly for him, a well-seasoned comedian, to blame the bombing of his jokes on a “ghost writer.”
Not only did he make a misogynistic and sexist joke about Barbie, but he also made a jab at Taylor Swift. In an interview after the event, he said that his joke was a compliment, and she should’ve laughed and indulged in herself a little. However, when the camera had panned to Taylor, there wasn’t necessarily a look of joy or laughter present.
Many users on TikTok have taken to finding alternatives to Koy’s poorly read jokes and have found success, so it begs the question; why didn’t Koy change the jokes? He obviously had his own autonomy to write some of the jokes himself and I doubt that he was pressured into uttering his disrespectful comments, so why didn’t he edit the jokes himself. Was it due to laziness, or an overall disregard for the occasion in general? It cannot be answered, but I can speculate as can all other viewers of the golden globes.
I half blame his actions and behavior on his ego. Though not enlarged, it was big enough to bring Koy to the belief that he was funny or comedic enough to pull off those blatantly rude jokes, that he deemed so hilarious. My other theory is that the men in the writing room or those who Koy consulted with about the jokes, are misogynistic and sexist and for them, making a mockery of women and being misogynistic is peak comedy. It is a circle rotation of uplifting the ideologies of misogyny.
At the end of the day, Jo Koy’s actions were ignorant and sexist. Rather than making up excuses and trying to back himself up, he should apologize and accept his action. When a conflict occurs the best thing to do is to accept the blame and own up to your mistake. His hesitation to apologize shows his truly deep-rooted misogyny and toxic masculinity. No matter the person and however they want to act, they cannot change their roots if they do not want to. Jo Koy does not want to change and has no desire to. Until then we will continue to see incidents like Jo Koy at golden globes consistently throughout the future.
