Golden Globes Host Jo Koy Doubles Down on "Intent" Behind Taylor Swift Joke

Luck of the draw only draws the unlucky, but Jo Koy did not mean to make Taylor Swift the butt of the joke.

The 2024 Golden Globes host defended his quip about the "Karma" singer at the star-studded ceremony, saying that the "whole intention of that joke was to make fun of the NFL" and the organization's habit of cutting away from football games to show Taylor cheering on her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce, in the crowd.

"There's no ill intent in that joke," he told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published on Jan. 11. "I'm not saying anything that no one's saying, and it's obvious what that joke was."

Jo said he "didn't understand" the backlash that followed—after all, he's a Swiftie himself.

"What hurts the most is me just supporting Taylor," the 52-year-old explained. "I support her, I love her work. I got nieces that I bought tickets for."

In fact, the Easter Sunday star admitted that he struggled with the joke leading up to the Jan. 7 show.

"Mind you, that one was just getting rewritten 50 million times, never ran it through, all the way up until we had to walk out," Jo, who previously shared he only had 10 days to prepare, noted. "It's just weird, where do you place it, and we kept hammering it and cutting it down."

But his comment about Taylor wasn't the only joke that didn't land well with some fans. At the ceremony, Jo also took a crack at Barbie during his opening monologue and described it as a story based on "a plastic doll with big boobies," drawing criticism that he may have missed the point of the film.

"If you've ever seen me, you'll see just how much I praise and shine light on women, from my ex-wife to my mom," he told the Times, explaining how his "whole goal is to try and change that type of narrative" with his comedy. "I bought the movie. I supported the movie. Yes, that's the story that that doll needed. And I'm glad because now there's people that look like my mom that can support that."

For what it's worth, Barbie director Greta Gerwig believes Jo's take is "not wrong."

"She's the first doll that was mass-produced with breasts, so he was right on," the filmmaker said on the Jan. 10 episode of BBC Radio 4's Today. "And you know, I think that so much of the project, of the movie was unlikely because it is about a plastic doll."

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