Jo Koy Had 'No Ill Intent' With Viral Golden Globe Taylor Swift Joke

Jo Koy will not be hearing the last of his inaugural Golden Globes hosting gig any time soon.

The standup comedian, who faced a barrage of criticism from viewers following his jokes from the ceremony, has shed light on his swipe at Taylor Swift. He said the message was meant for the NFL and not for Swift and her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. 

When he took the stage at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on Sunday, January 7, Koy was flustered and nervous. In an attempt to lighten the mood and build his nerves, he uttered this zinger regarding Swift and her beau, the tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs:

"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 comment triggered an immediate unimpressed reaction from the singer-songwriter, who took a sip of her drink. Seeing that the joke failed to land, the 52-year-old quickly added, "Sorry about that," as Swift seemingly glared at him.

Now, days later, Koy has reflected on the situation, claiming that he found it confusing. In his words:

"I didn't understand the Taylor [Swift] tiff. What hurts the most is me just supporting Taylor, I support her, I love her work. I got nieces that I bought tickets for. There's no ill intent in that joke."

He then clarified that the statement was originally targeted at the National Football League and not the accomplished musician. Explaining further, he told the Los Angeles Times:

"It's like, the cool thing about the [Golden] Globes is we don't need to do cutaways for ratings."

Just like Swift, multiple observers took to social media to air their varying thoughts on the joke, with one person noting, "That landed with a giant thud and a death glare from Swift. Not Jo Koy's best moment."

A second social media user quipped, "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."

"Didn't he run this joke with his people before doing it on stage? If he did, he needs to fire them ASAP," a third admonished, as a fourth pointed out:

"The joke wasn't funny, and I'm sure that's what she's reacting to, but the way I'm seeing Swifties respond to this is ridiculous. They're acting as if he personally insulted her when he didn't. It's a worn-out joke about over-saturation. It was a dig at the NFL, not her."

The Blast noted that Deidre Hall also joined in the backlash, swiftly taking to Facebook to express her disapproval of Koy's jokes at the 81st Golden Globes Awards. The actress, famous for her portrayal of Dr. Marlena Evans on "Days of Our Lives," penned:

"The Globes Globes host, Jo Koy, is a complete embarrassment to himself and the Academy. Skip it."

Her fans unsurprisingly supported the statement and disclosed as much in the comment section. "We turned it on for about 5 minutes and tried to watch that guy. I didn't know who he was and my husband even said he's not funny and the people in the audience aren't really laughing either and we changed the channel," a Facebook user typed.

A second wondered, "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."

"Agreed, very unprofessional and total embarrassment," a third chimed in, while a fourth reiterated, "He is so inappropriate for this job. I agree 100%."

In case you missed it, Koy began the 2024 ceremony with an opening monologue delving into Hollywood's Ozempic trend and intertwining jokes about films nominated for awards.

He humorously suggested that "Oppenheimer" needed to be "another hour" and characterized "Barbie" as a movie about "a plastic doll with big b——."