Greta Gerwig Breaks Silence On Jo Koy's Golden Globes Jab At 'Barbie'

Greta Gerwig, director of the life adaptation of "Barbie," has finally addressed Jo Koy's controversial comments about her hit movie.

The comedian sparked media outrage over his unpopular jokes at the 2024 Golden Globes, earning the wrath of celebrities and fans. While many labeled his thoughts about Gerwig's film as "sexist" and "demeaning," the filmmaker reacted interestingly to Koy's jabs.

As this year's host of the Golden Globes, Koy opened the award show by comparing "Barbie" to its premiere counterpart, saying: "Oppenheimer is based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project, and Barbie is on a plastic doll with big b---ies."

In his monologue, he continued dissing the movie, claiming: "The key moment in Barbie is when she goes from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite, and flat feet. Or what casting directors call character actor!"

While Koy's comments sent fans raging on social media, Gerwig responded calmly to his jokes. Instead of slamming the comedian for insulting her movie, she credited him for being right about Barbie's origins. In her words:

"Well, he's not wrong. She's the first doll that was mass-produced with breasts, so he was right on. And you know, I think that so much of the project, of the movie, was unlikely because it is about a plastic doll."

Gerwig noted in her recent appearance on "BBC Radio 4's Today" that the doll-inspired movie became successful thanks to that blank-slate mentality. Making a movie about the plastic doll gave her and her husband/writing partner, Noah Baumbach, the opportunity to create their iconic character.

"Barbie, by her very construction, has no character, no story. She's there to be projected upon," the director explained. Gerwig's calm response to Koy's upsetting comments may be linked to her movie's massive success.

"Barbie" received the most nominations at the Golden Globes and won the award for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. Additionally, the movie amassed billions of dollars in theaters, making it the first film from a solo female director to gross over $1 billion worldwide.

Following his infamous Golden Globes appearance, Koy became the internet's most hated person, with criticisms pouring in from various social media platforms, celebrities like Diedre Hall did not hold back their disappointment.

The actress, known for portraying Dr. Marlena Evans on "Days of Our Lives," slammed Koy in a Facebook post, writing: "The Globes Globes host, Jo Koy, is a complete embarrassment to himself and the Academy. Skip it."

Her words sparked similar reactions from fans, who flooded the comment section in agreement. "Completely agree. The worst host ever," someone penned. "Agreed, very unprofessional and total embarrassment," another chimed, while a third declared: "He is so inappropriate for this job. I agree 100%."

"Did you see he was so nervous he had no saliva in his mouth, AND he kept saying I wrote some jokes and the writers wrote the others? The whole show sucked. I didn't know half of the 'stars' on, and I didn't see any of the movies," a fourth recalled.

Koy's comments about "Barbie" were not the only reason the internet buzzed with criticisms. The comedian also made unflattering jabs at the singer Taylor Swift and her highly popularized relationship with NFL star Travis Kelce.

While his remarks about Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig received unamused responses from the crowd, Koy's attempt to lighten the mood by joking about Taylor Swift was overkill. Addressing the singer's frequent camera time at her boyfriend's NFL games, he said:

"As you know, we came on after a football doubleheader. The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL. On the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift, I swear." 

The "Bad Blood" hitmaker was unimpressed by the quip, sipping her drink with an icy expression that caused Koy to apologize. Nonetheless, the songstress's fans attacked him on X, with one writing: "That landed with a giant thud and a death glare from Swift. Not Jo Koy's best moment."

"Poor Taylor Swift, between dating an NFL star, having the biggest concert tour ever, and being a person of the year, I really feel for her," another sarcastically stated. When asked about the Grammy winner's cold response, Koy responded: "Aww, man, it was cute. I was just saying it was cute. I was just saying it's less cutaways, that's all."