While the comedian is still happy that he accepted the 'challenge' to host the show despite the criticism, he admits that blaming his writing staff for the failed jokes was a 'rookie move.'
- Jan 12, 2024
AceShowbiz - Jo Koy has responded to backlash regarding his "Barbie" joke at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards. Following his widely-criticized monologue at the Sunday, January 7 ceremony, he confronted the critics who branded his jab at Greta Gerwig's movie sexist."
During the live telecast, the Golden Globes host compared Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" to its summer tandem partner "Barbie". He said, " 'Oppenheimer' is based on the 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project - and 'Barbie' is about a plastic doll with big boobies."
In a new interview with The Times, Jo shut down the criticism. "The reaction to the 'Barbie' joke. The things that are being said, it's just like, man, I don't think you understand who I am as a person, you know what I mean?" he said. "Because if you've ever seen me, you'll see just how much I praise and shine light on women, from my ex-wife to my mom."
Lamenting the highly sensitive viewers, he continued, "I'm telling a joke - what happened to society where we can't even joke with each other anymore. I bought the movie. I supported the movie. Yes, that's the story that that doll needed. And I'm glad because now there's people that look like my mom that can support that."
In the same interview, Jo said that he was hired 10 days before the awards ceremony and his writing staff wasn't picked until "eight days before the show." They all met in person "two days before" and "the monologue was done the day before."
"We were still writing up until they said we're live," the 52-year-old claimed. "Absolute cold reads, never got a chance to work out anything. And this is not an excuse, I'm just trying to paint the picture because I don't think people understand, in any situation, how is that geared towards winning? If you were to write that situation down on a piece of paper and go, 'Do you want to do this?' I guarantee everyone would be like 'No.' I'm happy I did it because I did accept that challenge."
While he has no regret about hosting the show, Jo admitted that throwing his writing staff under the bus for the failed joke was "a rookie move." He told the audience when his jokes fell flat on the show, "Some I wrote, some other people wrote. Yes, I got the gig 10 days ago! You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up. You're kidding me right? Slow down, I wrote some of these and they are the ones you are laughing at."
"I love my writers," he said to the outlet. "I love all three of them and I shouted them out. And I told them like that was a moment right there where I'm just grasping. I love them and I can't stop talking about them in every interview. They busted their a**, man."
"There's a lot of greats that make rookie moves. That was a rookie move," he went on explaining. "Those writers are dope and that was not my intention at all. They were amazing, they had my back and I need to make sure I fix that and I will, I always will."
Greta previously reacted to Jo's "Barbie" joke. Seemingly not being offended, the director told BBC Radio 4 Today, "Well, he's not wrong. She's the first doll that was mass-produced with breasts, so he was right on."
