The 81st annual Golden Globe Awards were hosted on January 7, 2024 to celebrate the film and American television productions from the past year. As with all of these award shows lately, there has been significant controversy surrounding events, or should I say people, at the ceremony. As you may know by now, the awards were hosted by Jo Koy, a stand-up comedian and actor, whose jokes left... much to be desired, especially for the women in the audience.
Supposedly, this year marked a huge step towards feminist understanding with the premier of Barbie, a film by Greta Gerwig starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. The premise of the film was to depict society from the female point of view, provoking an understanding from non-female identifying people and a sense of community and empowerment from the female audience. It highlights the mistreatment and discrimination females face from society through a history of patriarchy. America Ferrera delivers a gut wrenching monologue in the film - one that everyone should hear at least once - that touches upon the unrealistic expectations put on women and the objectification of women’s bodies each and every day. Despite having seen the film and heard the conversation surrounding its' meaning, Jo Koy decided to perform jokes that were at women's expense for a 'good laugh' during the award show.
"Oppenheimer and Barbie are competing for cinematic box office
achievements. 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." - Jo Koy
This is an excerpt from Jo Koy's opening monologue, where he compares the Oppenheimer and Barbie box office achievements since they both premiered on the same night. In the quote above, it is safe to say that he implies that Oppenheimer is the film that is more credible because it is based on an award winning book rather than a children's toy. Clearly, he missed the message behind Barbie and is now one of the many ignorant people who fail to see the difficulty that comes with being a woman in society. Based on the reactions of the guests at the Golden Globes and the backlash received by the public, Jo Koy did take it too far at the awards show.
If you would like to read the rest of his speech, you can find the full footage of his monologue here.
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