Golden Globes Host Jo Koy Goes Off Script as Monologue Bombs: ‘Yo, Shut Up!’

Raquel 'Rocky' Harris
·6 min read
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Comedian and actor Jo Koy was roasted online for his ill-received monologue at the 81st annual Golden Globe Awards, and Koy himself seemed to acknowledge he was bombing mid-act.

After a joke about “Oppenheimer” being a little too long for his liking and a jab at Robert De Niro fathering a new baby at the age of 80, Koy went off script and admitted that some of his jokes weren’t landing.

“I got the gig 10 days ago! You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up,” Koy said from the stage. “You’re kidding me, right? Slow down. I wrote some of these, and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”

Koy began his set by taking a look around the room.

“Look, Kevin Costner is here. Kevin Costner is never here,” Koy said, mentioning that he hadn’t seen some of the movies nominated for this year’s ceremony. “When the Golden Globes called me and asked me and asked me if I wanted to host, I jumped at the chance and I said, ‘Yes.’ They asked me if I saw every movie and every TV show, then I said, ‘Yes.’ I lied.”

It didn’t take long for folks online to begin calling Koy out for what they deemed a poor hosting job and a lackluster monologue.

“This is a catastrophe,” Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson wrote.

“Is this the worst award show host monologue of all time?” said another X user.

Koy was tapped to host this year’s ceremony in December 2023, marking the gig as his Golden Globes hosting debut as well as the first time he’s ever hosted an awards show. He follows in the footsteps of prior hosts Ricky Gervais and Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, all of whom hosted multiple shows. Jerrod Carmichael hosted the 2023 show and strikingly took aim at the HFPA during his set.

Recovering from a few years of controversy is the fully revamped Golden Globe Awards, which are now owned by Eldridge Industries and Dick Clark Productions, feature an all-new voting party of 300 entertainment journalists and a new telecast home in CBS.

The organization’s renovations come after it faced criticism and backlash over the lack of diversity within the now-dissolved Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which voted on the nominees and winners for the awards show.

In February 2021, ahead of the event’s air date, the Los Angeles Times released a report that revealed there were no Black members in HFPA’s body of 87 members of international journalists. This resulted in publicists and studios boycotting the organization until the camp fixed the issue, and the 2022 awards ceremony were ultimately scaled down, moved to a Tuesday evening, with 2021 performances being acknowledged with no telecasted ceremony on NBC after the network declined to renew its contract with the organization. The HFPA announced the the wins via an X (formerly Twitter) post.

The issue was the subject of 2023 Golden Globes host Jerrod Carmichael’s opening monologue.

“I’m here ’cause I’m Black. This show did not air last year because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association — which I won’t say were a racist organization, but they didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd died. So do with that information what you will,” Carmichael said.

In September 2023, the Golden Globes dropped 18 voters who were former members of HFPA who will not be voting for the 81st awards. In an email to studios about the development, which was obtained by TheWrap, the organization did not provide a reason for the change but listed the three members – Munawar Hosain, Aniko Navai and Howaida Hamdy Serour – who were removed after investigations into violations of the event’s code of conduct.

Koy just wrapped up his “Funny Is Funny World Tour,” the stand-up comedian has released five specials across Comedy Central and Netflix, including his recent Netflix special, “Live from the Los Angeles Forum.” In addition, Koy starred in Universal Picture’s “Easter Sunday,” which was based on his own experiences and stand-up, and was featured in Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” and the voice cast for Netflix’s animated film “Monkey King.”

Take a look at what folks online had to say.

The post Golden Globes Host Jo Koy Goes Off Script as Monologue Bombs: ‘Yo, Shut Up!’ appeared first on TheWrap.