RIP Jo Koy: Tacoma comic unfairly humiliated by Taylor Swift, others at Golden Globes | Opinion
Like a lot of people — at least in the demographic I inhabit, those whose pop culture relevance is a fond but distant memory — I had never heard of Jo Koy until I read about the comedian in the local newspaper.
I realize how old and out-of-touch that sounds, but it’s true. There’s no sense denying it.
In late 2022, Koy — a 1989 Foss High School grad who spent years climbing the stand-up ranks before more recently leveling up as a movie star and six-time Netflix special host — returned to Tacoma for a hometown triumph tour of sorts.
Koy had a sold-out show at the T-Dome on his itinerary and a key to the city waiting for him, the TNT’s Craig Sailor reported, along with plenty of adoration from folks who’d supported him along the way.
Declaring Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022 “Jo Koy Day,” Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards summed up the celebratory vibe, honoring the local success story in beaming fashion:
“Today we prove what it means to be the City of Destiny,” Woodards said of Koy.
The comedian — who has used his upbringing in a mixed-race Filipino family as prime fodder during his budding comedy career — returned the favor, presenting Foss with a $30,000 check for its scholarship fund, the first of a five-year pledge totaling $150,000, according to the family.
So perhaps you can imagine my surprise when, the next time I heard about Koy, was during his bloody public sacrifice on live TV, as fill-in host of the 81st Golden Globe Awards, held Sunday night in California, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Last-minute host
Koy, who I had marked down as a decent guy after his triumphant return to Tacoma, was a last-minute choice to host the glitzy affair — at least in part because the scandals that have plagued the award show in recent years made it difficult to find anyone else.
In advance of the star-studded event, Koy said he was excited. Who wouldn’t be?
In real-time? Koy was eviscerated as the “worst host ever.”
But you know that by now.
People booed his sexist monologue, most notably his riffs on the Barbie movie, which he described as a film about “a plastic doll with big” breasts that reached its key moment when “she goes from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite, and flat feet. Or what casting directors call character actor!”
Get it!? Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren appeared wholly unimpressed, understandably.
Pursing her all-powerful lips and taking a sip of champagne, Taylor Swift — perhaps the most famous person in the history of mankind, capable of launching and ending careers on a whim — delivered the death blow after Koy struggled through a bit at her expense (because of course she did).
“As you know, we came on after a football double header,” Koy told the puzzled crowd in his opening monologue. “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL. On the Golden Globes, we have have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift, I swear.”
Oh boy ...
The GIFs did the rest.
So RIP Jo Koy. It was a good run while it lasted. No one can save you from the internet now, and your performance didn’t leave much room for defense.
Still, there’s just one problem, at least in my mind:
As bad as some of Koy’s jokes were — and, to be clear, they were bad, his lazy T-Swizzle punchline paled in comparison to the outdated Archie Bunker moments — it feels just a little bit wrong watching him burn in the flames of public humiliation, doesn’t it?
No-win situation
Let’s be honest: Koy was set up to fail by a Hollywood machine that mostly gave him the opportunity because of its own mistakes and well-earned black eyes.
As Koy noted by way of an excuse (not that it helped), he had only 10 days to prepare for a job everyone else turned down.
Could he have done better? Of course.
Is there any doubt that the production bigwigs who took over the Golden Globes this year were looking for an easy win when they invited a first-time host at the 11th hour — after the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was forced out amid allegations of discrimination and a lack of diversity?
Not in my mind.
The new suits in charge this year turned to Koy in desperation — mostly because they were in a public relations pickle.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Look, I don’t feel sorry for Koy, and I doubt he’d want my sympathy anyway — or anyone’s. He’s a Tacoma kid; something tells me he can scrap.
At the same time, I hope Koy eventually receives the leeway and grace that so many other comics and failed award-show hosts have been granted in the past, the vast majority of them white.
After hosting the 2022 Emmys, Jimmy Kimmel was forced to apologize for what he later described as a “dumb comedy bit” that upstaged Quinta Brunson’s win for outstanding writing in comedy, for the show that the writer, actor and comedian stars in and created, Abbott Elementary.
Kimmel, let’s remember, rose to fame back when I was paying attention to pop culture, as one of the visionaries behind The Man Show, which ended every episode with women in bikinis jumping on a trampoline. Today, he’s as famous and celebrated as ever.
Koy’s jokes at the Golden Globes were bad. There’s no doubt.
Giving an up-and-coming comedian from Tacoma a shot no one else wanted — and then reducing him to a punchline when it blows up in his face?
In the end, that might be worse.
This story was originally published January 8, 2024 at 3:27 PM.
