Taylor Swift Cemented Jo Koy’s Golden Globes Night With One Look

Jo Koy had a rough night hosting the 2024 Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, but some viewers think the nail in the coffin came from singer Taylor Swift. Koy cracked a joke about Swift and her relationship with Travis Kelce during one of his interludes in the award show, and Swift did not seem to find it funny. While negative reviews for Koy came from many other angles, Swift’s highly active online fanbase made up a large chunk of the responses.

Koy joked about Swift about an hour into the Golden Globes, after a lukewarm response to his opening monologue. He said: “As you know, we came on after a football doubleheader. The biggest difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? On the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.” The camera cut to Swift for her reaction, but she didn’t play along. The singer raised her eyebrows and bit her lip, not looking at the camera. She quickly reached for her drink and took a big sip instead.

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Koy is far from the first person to comment on the NFL’s focus on Swift this past season. Swift began dating Kelce, a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, which put her in the stands for a lot of their games. The camera crews capitalized on their frequent celebrity guest, and some fans grumbled that it was a distraction from the game they were trying to watch. Swift’s fans defended her online against any criticism, and they did the same on Sunday night when Koy made his joke.

“Every day is a good day to not make offensive jokes on television involving Taylor Swift’s name,” one person posted on X shortly after Koy’s joke aired on the live broadcast. Another added, “Taylor Swift being unamused by Jo Koy, she’s really just like us!” A third person wrote, “If Taylor Swift death stares could actually kill, Jo Koy would now be deceased.”

Koy addressed these responses and the negative reviews in general after the award show. Later that same night, he told Entertainment Tonight that he didn’t mean to hurt Swift’s feelings, explaining: “I was just saying it was cute.” On Monday, he appeared on Good Morning America with more perspective on the experience as a whole.

“I had fun. You know, it was a moment that I’ll always remember,” he said. “It’s a tough room. It was a hard job, I’m not going to lie… 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. Yes, I’m a stand-up comic but that hosting position it’s a different style. I kind of went in and did the writers’ 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.”

When asked if there was any joke he regretted in particular, Koy said: “I think it was when the Taylor [Swift] one was just a little flat… It was a weird joke, I guess. But it was more on the NFL… 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.”