As bright fireworks and champagne toasts lit up 2024, another lavish event happened just a week later on January 7: the Golden Globe Awards! With whispers and restless predictions about the nominees starting from December of last year, the anticipation for the event was soaring, especially since it has proven to be an accurate indication of future Oscar winners. And the artists truly did show up and show out.
After months of hard work, they came to the event with proud smiles and looked dazzling in their extravagant outfits—Greta Lee and Hunter Schafer were my personal favorite looks! There were even some special highlights: Lily Gladstone became the first Indigenous person to win a Golden Globe, Billie Eilish spoke about mental health in her acceptance speech for “What Was I Made For?” which won Best Original Song, and Paul Giamatti, the cousin of Mitty’s very own Dr. Cooper, was spotted at In-N-Out with his award after the ceremony.
And similarly to the stars, the award show garnered quite a lot of attention, even getting 50% more viewers than the previous year…but not for the right reasons. The event was met with backlash and millions of viewers who were furious at the show’s main host: Jo Koy, a stand-up comedian that has been featured on Netflix, has gone on a world tour, and has appeared on numerous Late Night Shows. He has amassed a large following and is especially popular in the Filipino community since many of his shows revolve around his cultural identity. So, his fans were excited for his next milestone: his first time hosting the Golden Globes—which unfortunately, was most likely his last after his humiliating performance.
Koy’s biggest mistake was making insensitive jokes at not only the expense of his writers, but also the nominees. After gushing over Oppenheimer for what seemed like longer than the movie itself–which I agree was a fantastic movie–Koy completely mocked the Barbie movie, reducing its deep messages to simply a movie about attractive plastic dolls. It was evident that he hadn’t understood the movie, and instead demonstrated the sole reason why the Barbie movie needed to be made.
The reactions to his Barbie jokes really highlighted the crowd’s discomfort, especially Selena Gomez and Ryan Reynolds, who were openly disgusted. He also made a joke about Taylor Swift’s appearances on the NFL and poked fun at the British royals. However, upon seeing the disgusted reactions of the audience, he tried to save himself by saying that the funny jokes were the ones he wrote, while the controversial ones were the show-writers’ work. Behind the edited laughs, Jo Koy’s entire monologue and snarky comments felt like a career-ending performance that seemed to bomb the entire ceremony.
This 81st Golden Globe Awards could have been the show’s redirection to popularity, but unfortunately Koy’s comments just seemed to kill the mood.
Yet despite the show being disastrous this year, there were certainly things to applaud. The Red Carpet looks were colorful and unique, the winners’ speeches were heartfelt, and most notably, nobody was slapped! Although the 2024 Golden Globes were a mess, I hope it will be a lesson for future events to be not only glamorous, but also considerate to these people who use their art to change lives daily.