Jo Koy Says Golden Globes Backlash “Hurt,” Addresses “Weird” Joke He Made About Taylor Swift

By Samantha Nungesser Twitter @samjnungesser
Published Jan. 8, 2024, 1:48 p.m. ET

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Jo Koy is doubling down on that controversial joke he made at Taylor Swift‘s expense while hosting Sunday night’s (Jan. 7) Golden Globes ceremony.

During his opening monologue, Koy poked fun at a number of pop culture moments, from Robert De Niro having a baby at 80 years old to Bradley Cooper‘s prosthetic nose in Maestro. Many of his jokes, however, garnered mixed reactions from the audience.

“It’s a tough room. It was a hard job, I’m not going to lie,” Koy told GMA3 this morning, per Variety. “I’d be lying if [I said] it doesn’t hurt. I hit a moment there where I was like, ‘Ah.’ Hosting is just a tough gig.”

He added, “Yes, I’m a stand-up comic but that hosting position it’s a different style. I kind of went in and did the writer’s thing. We had 10 days to write this monologue. It was a crash course. I feel bad, but I got to still say I loved what I did.”

One joke that didn’t land well was one he made about the NFL’s constant coverage of Swift at Travis Kelce‘s Kansas City Chiefs games.

“As you know, we came on after a football doubleheader,” Koy said during last night’s telecast. “The biggest difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? On the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.”

When the camera cut to the “Love Story” songstress, she reacted with a deadpan expression on her face before taking a big sip of her drink.

Swift’s unamused reaction almost immediately went viral on social media, with her army of Swifties dragging Koy through the mud in the process. Despite the backlash, the comedian defended his “cute” joke about the singer and her new beau.

“Aww, man, it was cute,” he told Entertainment Tonight after the event. “I was just saying it was cute. I was just saying it’s less cutaways, you know what I mean? That’s all.” 

Koy further explained the joke, which he said fell “just a little flat,” while appearing on GMA3.

“It was a weird joke, I guess. But it was more on the NFL,” he said. “I was trying to make fun of the NFL using cutaways and how the Globes didn’t have to do that. So it was more of a jab toward the NFL. But it just didn’t come out that way.”

Swift, who began dating Kelce in late 2023, previously said she had “no idea” how often the NFL cut to her at football games.

“I don’t know how they know what suite I’m in,” she told Time. “There’s a camera, like, a half-mile away, and you don’t know where it is, and you have no idea when the camera is putting you in the broadcast, so I don’t know if I’m being shown 17 times or once.”

She added, “I’m just there to support Travis. I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads, and Chads.”