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“It hurts”: Jo Koy talks Golden Globes monologue criticism, “flat” Taylor Swift joke

By Yi-Jin Yu and Stephen Iervolino Jan 8, 2024 | 4:00 PM
Sonja Flemming/CBS ©2024 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Golden Globes host Jo Koy is explaining himself after a joke about Taylor Swift appeared to fall flat during the broadcast. 

Critics pointed out it wasn’t the only joke of the night that didn’t land.

“I’d be lying [if I said] it doesn’t hurt,” he said to GMA3 on Monday. “I hit a moment there when I was like, ‘Ahh!'” 

He continued, “Hosting is a tough gig,” and noted he had “an off night.”

Swift appeared unamused when Koy joked the camera would cut away more sparingly to Swift during the 81st Golden Globe Awards than it does during NFL games.

The first-time host and comedian later downplayed the joke, which has now gone viral.

“It’s a tough room and it was a hard job. I’m not gonna lie. Getting that gig and then having the amount of time that we had to prepare was a crash course,” Koy said.

“The Taylor one was just a little flat and you know, it was a weird joke, I guess, but it was more on the NFL. You know what I mean?” Koy continued.

“I was trying to make fun of the NFL using cutaways and how the Globes didn’t have to do that. And so it was more of a jab towards the NFL but it just didn’t come out that way,” he insisted.

During the live broadcast, when the camera panned to Swift, who was nominated for cinematic and box office achievement for her Eras Tour film, she seemed to purse her lips and then take a sip from a champagne glass.

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