The Golden Globes, an iconic award show made to appreciate the art of film, has been annually hosted for 81 years at The Beverly Hilton. It is meant to be a celebratory night for the star-studded actors, actresses, and filmmakers that attend, as there are usually many first time nominees who win it big. Unfortunately, the 2024 Golden Globes did not go as smoothly as its predecessors, especially considering much of the underlying controversy.
This year’s Golden Globes had 30 new nominees, promising a new and exciting suspense for the viewers and nominees alike. Among the TV shows and movies that succeeded was Succession, a satirical comedy-drama about extremely wealthy and corrupt children attempting to take over their father’s company, ending its five-year run in 2023. The show earned four golden globes, including the stars Sarah Snooks, Matthew Macfadyen, and Kieran Culkin, who won best drama actress and best drama actors respectively, giving the show a celebratory send-off . Barbenheimer—the “Summer movie watch phenomenons”—also took the Globes by storm, with Barbie winning two awards out of nine nominations, and Oppenheimer winning five.
It was also a monumental night for Lily Gladstone, who made history by becoming the first Indigenous person to win a Golden Globe. Gladstone, who had a stellar performance as Mollie Burkhart in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon was awarded the “Best Actress” award. When accepting her win, she dedicated it to her culture, “This is a historic win,” she said, “A beautiful community, nation, that encouraged me to keep going, keep doing this.” Gladstone honored the Blackfeet Nation, the tribe from where she originated.
While the Globes may have had a superstar cast with incredible wins, Jo Koy’s first-time run at hosting the Globes proved to be difficult. The 52 year-old comedian and Washington native who is particularly known for his highly-rated Netflix comedy stand-up shows, failed to impress his audience with his offensive “jokes,” causing severe backlash from both the audience and viewers. In his opening monologue, Koy admitted that he was not prepared for the gig: “Yo, I got the gig ten days ago,” he said. “You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up…”
Koy then proceeded to blame his writers, a tactic he used quite often.
When asked about some of his jokes by the Los Angeles Times, Koy said, “I love my writers,” he stated. “I love all three of them and I shouted them out. And I told them, like, that was a moment right there where I’m just grasping.” Koy unfortunately made jokes that did not land with viewers from home and audience alike, who did not seem to understand the comedic appeal of his statements.
Once again, in his opening Monologue, he compares the two biggest movie hits of the Summer in a questionable manner: “Oppenheimer is based on a 721 page Pulitzer prize winning book about the Manhattan Project,” he states, “and Barbie is on a plastic doll with big boobies.” This joke faced a large amount of criticism as many believed that Koy missed the point of the movie and seemed misogynistic, especially considering that Barbie primarily discussed humanity and character, and not just Barbie’s physical appearance.
When asked by Good Morning America if Koy would host again, he said, “It’s a tough room. And it was a hard job, I’m not going to lie. Getting that gig, and then having the amount of time that we had to prepare — that was a crash course.” When Koy was asked about the criticism he was receiving, he stated, “I’d be lying if it doesn’t hurt. I hit a little moment there where I was just like, ‘Ah. Hosting is a tough gig.’”
It was a memorable night for the Globes, as the casts and crews of Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Succession had incredible wins. But mostly, this year’s Globes was especially historic for the likes of Lily Gladstone, who was able to represent the Indigenous population in the entertainment industry. However, throughout the night, Jo Koy’s jokes earned him awkward laughs and straight faces from the many actors in the audience, making the night not as perfect as expected. But, luckily for the Globes, the award show got a 50% rating increase boost with 9.4 million viewers this year, so who knows what controversies will occur next time?
