From clips of awkward celebrity reactions across all social media platforms to think pieces in every journalism outlet, Jo Koy’s Golden Globes monologue is undeniably the unavoidable pop culture moment of the week.

It’s not uncommon for award show hosts to give a subpar performance. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, who shared the role for four years, are often considered the pinnacle of Globes hosts in recent history. Ricky Gervais’ stint as host received favorable praise. Gervais, whose newest work resembles that of a conservative news pundit obsessed with “woke” culture rather than that of an actual comedian, won the Globes’ first Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television award.

For the Globes last year, host Jerrod Carmichael completely strayed away from the classic roasting monologue employed by Poehler, Fey and Gervais. While Carmichael’s work was some of the best in recent history, no one watched it. The 2024 show received 50% more viewership than the previous year, as reported by the Associated Press.

Koy’s return to the roasting monologue failed. At its best, the jokes were tired, and at worst, they were misogynistic. Some of the worst moments happened during his section on “Barbie” (2023). In one “joke,” the 52-year-old man described the feminist movie using the word “boobies.”

“Barbie” explored the impossible expectations set upon women while also celebrating camaraderie among women. To see a woman-directed, women-led film receive praise from critics and viewers alike is a rare moment. Similarly, “Barbie” made it so the highest-grossing film of 2023 was the work of a woman. With $1.4 billion in the box office, it is the highest-grossing woman-directed film of all time.

Women directors are significantly underrepresented in the industry. The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative recently reported only 6% of the top 1,700 movies since 2007 were directed by women. For film fans, “Barbie” felt like maybe women directors would finally receive the large audiences they have long deserved.

In just a few icky “Barbie” bits, Koy reminded women we still aren’t in Barbie Land, and even if America Ferrera perfectly provided a “Feminism 101” course (as she described it to The New York Times), there are still men who can reduce the story to women’s bodies.

The audience was less willing to demean “Barbie,” leaving Koy stranded on the stage.

Some hosts may choose to soldier on through the rest of the monologue and hope the jokes are forgotten by the end. Although it is not uncommon to see a comic comment on a joke flopping to try and break the ice — sometimes it shows vulnerability and can bring the audience back to the comedian’s side. Comedians can achieve that success when they take responsibility for the flop, a sort of self-deprecating humanization for the person on stage.

In other cases, comedians go on the defensive, deflecting the awkwardness in any way they can — usually choosing to get mad at the audience. Koy, on the other hand, chose to blame the writers.

“Some I wrote, some other people wrote,” Koy said, diminishing the help of writers, who just concluded their 148-day strike — the second-longest strike in Writers Guild of America history.

“I got the gig 10 days ago,” he continued. “You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up. You’re kidding me, right? Slow down, I wrote some of these, and they are the ones you are laughing at.”

Ten days may be short, and he told PEOPLE he would like five months, but he still accepted the gig knowing the time frame.

As TikTok user @gabesco joked, “What does Jo Koy mean he only had 10 days to write his monologue? … Any student hearing this knows how ridiculous this is … 10 days before an assignment is due, usually I haven’t even started thinking about what I’m supposed to do.”

Comedians have off days all the time, and hosting an award show is known to be a difficult gig. The “Barbie” jokes were undeniably gross, but comedians are awarded for even more offensive content all the time (see Golden Globe-winner Gervais). Still, Koy chose to deflect the heat to the writers.

Maybe Koy truly did write all the hits, and the poor and sometimes offensive jokes came from the writers. However, it’s not as if Koy was onstage reading them for the first time. He was an active and willing participant throughout the process. And, ultimately, he was the one who delivered the jokes to the 1,000-something guests and 9.4 million viewers.

Plus, he was paid to do so. It is unknown how much Koy was paid to host, but considering Carmichael was paid $500,000 to host last year, Koy’s paycheck was likely extremely generous. For 10 days of work, he got paid maybe eight times as much as the average American will make this year. 

Some of the most important industry players were in the room, and Koy chose to embarrass the writers to (try to) save himself.

“Barbie” signaled more respect for women in film and the Writers Guild win signaled more respect for writers, but Koy proved it can still be taken away.

Kimberly Aguirre is a junior writing about comedy. Her column, “Comic Relief,” runs every other Thursday. She is also an associate managing editor at the Daily Trojan.