The 81st Golden Globes broadcasted live Sunday, January 7, 2024 from Beverly Hills, California. From 5pm to 8pm there was non-stop drama between America’s most iconic celebrities. The spectacle started with the show’s host Jo Koy, a standup comedian and actor who made unfunny and disrespectful jokes in his monologue. It ended with Selena Gomez announcing a social media break after fans found a reason to attack another mega celebrity, Kylie Jenner. Both of these events have a similar person involved, Taylor Swift. Once Taylor Swift is involved, strong debates are soon to be followed.
Starting with the host Jo Koy, there was no coming back from his awful opening line, “We all dreamt of this moment!” The entire crowd was silent with obvious disagreement. Every joke was terrible, either offensive, obvious, or old. His first joke was about Meryl Streep and he made fun of her winning many awards, which led to a camera shot of her awkwardly acknowledging. Then it was a joke about how long Oppenheimer was, which also led to a shot Robert Downey Jr. and Christopher Nolan straight-faced and shaking their heads. He said “needed another hour”, mocking the 3 hour run time. He also dissed Barbie, a film created by Greta Gerwig to inspire young women and fight stereotypes. One of his sexist jokes was that he didn’t know what to expect from a movie about “a plastic doll with big boobies”. This joke was obviously not appropriate and the cast of the movie was not happy. Ryan Gosling did not even smile when the camera cut to him after his series of unfunny quips about the movie. His biggest mistake was targeting Taylor Swift by saying, “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? At the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.” He was referencing Taylor Swift’s attendance at her football boyfriend, Travis Kelce’s Chiefs games being all over the big screen at games. Swift pursed her lips and sipped her drink. This small comment was widely criticized and angered many of Swift’s fans. Just this simple joke broke out debates over whether her reaction to the joke was too dramatic. Many believe that she needed to “just smile”. But, fans immediately responded arguing that her reaction was valid, especially when looking back at the Oscars Will Smith and Chris Rock slap. Overall it is clear that no one was enjoying Jo Koy’s monologue. He could tell, he even said “Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago. You want a perfect monologue?”.
A disappointing host was not the only issue at the show. Huge stars, Selena Gomez, Timothee Chalamet, and Kylie Jenner were stirring the pot at the event and after. Kylie Jenner and Timothee Chalamet have recently gotten together, and Selena Gomez wanted to take a photo with Timothee. He declined. A video released of Selena spilling tea to Taylor during the event. Selena Gomez fans accused Kylie of being the reason he declined after they watched Selena gossip. They began flaming Kylie on social media saying “It’s just a picture my dear… SO insecure.” They have had beef in the past but Selena completely denied the story saying that she was simply telling Taylor Swift about her friends hooking up. Timothee also denies the feud. Apparently this drama was too much for Selena so she quits social media, for the millionth time. Is that the right reaction?
With all these cameras catching small moments it’s hard to know if all these reactions are accurate to what these celebrities are actually feeling. The spotlight is intense at events like these, especially award shows where emotions are running high. All we know is that this night was nowhere close to perfect.
