Being an entertainer is hard. To go in front of an audience and speak, act, dance, it takes courage. And everyone makes mistakes. Recently, the internet has been in uproar. The Golden Globes awards, an event in which accolades are presented to the worlds best actors, directors, and films, are held once a year. In the last couple of years, a tradition has arisen of comedians hosting the awards, cracking jokes, poking fun of Hollywood’s elites, and bringing general fun and candor to the proceedings. This year, the event was hosted by comedian Jo Koy. And to say that the jokes fell flat, was a bit of an understatement.
Several of this year’s major films were nominated for awards, including Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Oppenhiemer. The controversial Barbie movie has been described as a feminist masterpiece, a defiance of gender roles, and even an attack on masculinity, but was undeniably popular. The movie was nominated for an award, and several of the songs and actors were nominated as well. Directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie, the movie broke barriers, highlighting talented women in the highest grossing movie ever directed by a woman.
However successful the movie was, it is also the subject of incredible controversy. Attacked in the media as detrimental to masculinity, slandered by politicians and influencers, and made the subject of inappropriate jokes by show hosts, the movie ruffled feathers and made headlines. The movie describes the issues women face in society and the way that even the most well respected and influential women can face disrespect and misogyny. In an ironic twist, neither Gerwig or Robbie were nominated for their roles in the show, however supporting actor Ryan Gosling, who played “Ken,” was nominated for the role of best supporting actor.
In addition to this slight, at the Golden Globes ceremony, host Jo Koy made several jokes about the film that were incredibly tone deaf and insensitive. The comedian made a comparison to Oppenhiemer, 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 boobies,” to a stunned and decidedly unamused audience. He followed up with yet more body-shaming and blatant sexism, as well as slandering talented actress Margot Robbie with his next “joke,” saying ““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!” Unsurprisingly, Koy faced remarkable backlash online, with thousands of posts calling him out on his mistakes. Koy got defensive, in a post he said “Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago, you want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up. You’re kidding me, right. Slow down. I wrote some of these, and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”
The issue isn’t jokes. It isn’t a nomination. It’s the continued mistreatment, sexualization, and misogyny that women face every single day in the media, and in society. Its that despite having the cover of a joke, it seems a lot more like a sexist statement, vaguely disguised. Its that despite having the cover of a simple nomination, its an example of the underrepresentation of women’s talent and effort in media, despite the horrible comments and sexualistion they face constantly. It’s about a movie, designed to show the disappointing reality that women face, ironically faces all of the same issues regarding the women in its cast, and those who directed and wrote it. It’s that a catalyst for change has seemingly degraded into a tool for misogynistic messages and sentiment.
