When Will Jo Koy Say Sorry to Taylor Swift?
The Self-Flagellation of Filipinos in the Face of Jo Koy’s Swipe at Taylor Swift at the Golden Globes
Jo Koy failed to deliver the laughs, but it feels we all have to bow down and apologize as a people
Easter Sunday. The Christian holiday celebrated by the Catholic faithful commemorates Jesus's resurrection from the dead. It was also the title of the movie starring Jo Koy produced by DreamWorks Pictures.
The movie bombed at the box office. And at the 81st Golden Globes Awards where Jo Koy was the host, he also bombed.
Yet, here we are still talking about Jo Koy.
Golden Globes
Like Jo Koy, I watched both the Oscars and the Golden Globes as a young kid. I still do.
And like Jo Koy, I am Filipino.
He is also an American, a comic, and a celebrity. I am not.
When it was announced that he would be hosting the Golden Globes, the majority of Filipinos on social media celebrated the news.
And as with anyone we collectively put on a pedestal, we are also known to collectively pull down our heroes when they stumble, particularly when it reflects on us in the global arena. This dynamic is deeply rooted in our history and relationship with our former colonial powers.
That is how it ended at the Golden Globes.
I watched the opening monologue from a clip I saw on X, and was disappointed that it wasn't funny. I cringed at the Barbie joke about ‘boobies’ and the Taylor Swift swipe, which led to a death stare by the billionaire celebrity, igniting a social media frenzy and endless attacks against Jo Koy.
What does this intense reaction tell us about celebrity culture and public sensitivity today?
Like everyone else, I felt I needed to say something. At first, I shared this post on my personal Facebook account;
But it was on Twitter/X where I felt I needed to add my opinion, all because of what I perceived as gender-biased jokes straight out of high school locker room in the 80s, that were not only dated but diminished what women in Hollywood accomplished in 2023.
Barbie was a colossal box-office success, making $1.4 billion while Taylor Swift’s tour grossed $1 billion. In comparison, Jo Koy’s Easter Sunday made $13 million off a $17 million budget not even the 2 million Filipino Americans went out of their way to watch his movie.
That could have been a joke that would have made everyone laugh. Self-deprecating humor is one way to play the crowd, especially from people who know very little about you.
And even before the last award was given, Jo Koy was already being canceled on social media.
What was even crazier is that many Filipinos were already disowning the guy. I wouldn't touch on the reactions by the Swifties, but some comments made me wonder, where is all this hate coming from?
This Filipino celebrity called it a ‘wasted opportunity.’
Hosts are always, always responsible for their scripts. Whether it’s your own or not, at the end of the day, it’s your face and career on the line. This was such a huge stage, and a wasted opportunity.
But what exactly was the ‘wasted opportunity’ here? Was it a missed chance for cultural representation, or a broader commentary on the responsibilities of those in the spotlight?
As if the national pride of the Philippines rested on Jo Koy’s shoulders that evening.
And there were more, from being called “the most awkward ten minutes in the history of the Golden Globes, ” to judging Jo Koy’s whole body of work.
Recently, I watched Ricky Gervais's Golden Globe-winning stand-up comedy special on Netflix — ‘Armageddon’ and it resonated with me when he said we can’t choose what makes us laugh, and, if I may add, in some ways, what makes us cry.
This raises a question: Should comedians tread carefully, or is it the audience’s responsibility to manage their reactions?
And I shared those thoughts on Facebook, that it doesn’t mean you are a bad person, or your humor isn’t sophisticated, what matters is that you can still laugh rather than be crying this early in 2024.
We forget to laugh
When I felt I had to pull out my ‘being an ally’ card and come to the defense of women in Hollywood, I forgot that there are times when it isn’t necessary or called for.
Days after the Golden Globes, Barbie movie director Greta Gerwig weighed in,
“Well, he’s not wrong,” Gerwig said. “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.”
Gerwig continued, “the insight that [Barbie creator] Ruth Handler had when she was watching her daughter play with baby dolls, is she realized, ‘My daughter doesn’t want to pretend to be a mother. She wants to pretend to be a grown woman.’” — EW
If Greta Gerwig has no issue with the joke, I shouldn't.
Besides she still directed the movie that saved everyone’s job in Hollywood, a sentiment shared by Meryl Streep.
A less problematic joke was the NFL reference to Taylor Swift, at first here we go again, a man who only sees women as being lovestruck when Taylor Swift isn't only Time Magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year, but is also credited for having a positive impact on the US economy.
A feat that no other artist has accomplished and yet I saw Jo Koy’s joke as belittling her and focused on her being a lovestruck woman who would do anything for a man. Or was it just bad timing or poor delivery?
“The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? On the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift, I swear.” — JO KOY
And when Taylor Swift was seen on camera with her “ death stare”, it was taken as a signal by her fandom to go after Jo Koy. Deliberate or not I wouldn't even dare to go any further than by saying she doesn't owe us any explanation for her actions.
Jo Koy
Megyn Kelly weighed in, and many didn't like what she had to say, and she couldn’t even say Jo Koy right, someone had to tell her that it wasn’t Joy Koy but Jo Koy as in “Joe.”
I watched that clip, and her guest even theorized that it could have been because Jo Koy was at the low level of the totem pole of the celebrity hierarchy. He was booed by his fellow celebrities or do they even recognize him as a celebrity?
Fellow comedians who have hosted awards nights like Whoopi Goldberg and Steve Martin have come forward in support of Jo Koy.
“I don’t know whether it was the room. I don’t know whether 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,” Goldberg said on ‘The View’ Tuesday.
“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,” he wrote. “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!” — Steve Martin
One of the things he said that was off to me, was when Jo Koy threw off the bus his writers,
I got the gig 10 days ago! You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up,”
He had come out and acknowledged it was a rookie move.
Easter Sunday
I always believed that jokes are always half-meaning. Sometimes a joke isn't just a joke.
But what happened at the Golden Globes made me realize that I also need to step back and rather err on laughing at a joke than lose my sense of humor.
Again, we can’t help what makes us laugh, only upon further scrutiny will it show us the reason why we laugh. We can make a self-reflection of ourselves and only then we can choose to better ourselves and not be fixated on stereotypes.
One can never be an ally 24/7 or fight every person who doesn’t believe in inequality, bias, or global warming.
The backlash against Jo Koy is real.
And some of it could also be because Jo Koy isn’t one of them. You may think what I’m about to say is playing the victim card. But would all of these be said if Jo Koy wasn't Asian, or an A-lister, someone who has more money, and gravitas?
You would think that everyone on social media would like to crucify Jo Koy for being a host and for jokes aimed at the Hollywood elite at an event that has a long history of controversies.
Golden Globes had to reinvent itself to cleanse itself, it even had to sell the awards show to Eldridge Industries. It was revealed a few years ago, that in its existence as an organization the Hollywood Foreign Press which used to own the Golden Globes had zero black members. It never appeared to be a problem to Hollywood until it came out in public.
Remember when Brendan Fraser revealed he was touched inappropriately by Philip Berk who once served as president of the Hollywood Foreign Press, and yet even after the GQ interview, none of the Hollywood elite made a big deal out of it.
It will take a few emails from Philip Berk to its members about Black Lives Matter as being a “racist hate movement, ” that made him resign as president.
And yet the 81st Golden Globes Awards is the resurrection of a troubled organization, and yet people are ready to crucify someone like Jo Koy.
Final words
Jo Koy still made history. He represented the minority in Hollywood. The first Asian American to single host the Golden Globes.
And he also happened to be the first Filipino American to host the awards.
It was a tough gig.
He opened up about not having enough time to prepare after accepting the hosting job ten days before the awards night.
And yet he said yes.
Poor judgment? Maybe, it was like he willingly went to the lion’s den and be eaten alive.
It is a hit or miss, as both Whoopi Goldberg and Steve Martin said about hosting an awards night.
But what about the death stare from Taylor Swift, was it more than a bruised ego, a misogynist joke that had no place in 2024 because of the long history of inequality in Hollywood towards women or is it also about someone who didn’t belong, a brown Filipino who had the audacity to tell a predominantly white crowd with money to — shut up?
And had anyone said anything about the Color Purple joke, or none of it mattered?
We Filipinos love owning people even the ones with 0.001% Filipino blood, the ones who say they love the Philippines, and the ones who only have good things to say about us.
It is also quite easy for us to disown anyone who fails to bring glory to the Motherland.
Jo Koy said he was hurt, but he can still come out as a winner. Steve Martin said that now Jo Koy has 20 minutes of new material for his next stand-up.
And the next time he goes on stage, everyone knows who he is.
As for me, I’m a Filipino and not embarrassed by what happened at the Golden Globes.
What are your thoughts?
