Jo Koy On 10-Day Turnaround to Host Golden Globes: ‘How is That Geared Towards Winning?’
Jo Koy defended his hosting job for this past weekend’s Golden Globe Awards, telling the Los Angeles Times in an interview that he gives himself “an A-plus just based on the courage” to host the ceremony given the tight turnaround.
This year marked a return for the Globes after Dick Clark Productions bought the awards show from the scandal-ridden Hollywood Foreign Press Association. (Full disclosure: Dick Clark Productions is a subsidiary of Rolling Stone’s parent company Penske Media Corporation.)
More from Rolling Stone
Greta Gerwig Takes High Road in Response to Jo Koy's 'Barbie' Jokes at Golden Globes
Jo Koy Admits His Taylor Swift Joke at the Golden Globes Was 'Weird' and a 'Little Flat'
Koy told the Times that with 10 days to prepare, the writing team wasn’t selected until eight days before the show, and they didn’t get in a writers’ room until two days prior.
“We were still writing up until they said we’re live,” Koy told the Times. “Absolute cold reads, never got a chance to work out anything. And this is not an excuse, I’m just trying to paint the picture because I don’t think people understand, in any situation, how is that geared towards winning? If you were to write that situation down on a piece of paper and go, ‘Do you want to do this?’ I guarantee everyone would be like ‘No.’ I’m happy I did it because I did accept that challenge.”
Koy also said in the interview that he and the writers didn’t meet in person until the day before the show.
“One time, that’s all we had. It was the most insane thing. And all we did was just sit and just go over it,” Koy said. “And then you know there’s the suggestions. I went up on my stage [here at my office] and just verbally ran through it. But I was running it through [our group], of course we’re gonna laugh at it. It’s honest feedback for us but I didn’t get to run it onstage anywhere. I didn’t get to go anywhere where I could just sneak these things in and that’s what this is all about, it’s working things out. So given the circumstances, that’s what I had to go through and that’s fine.”
Koy’s hosting has drawn jeers online as jokes toward Taylor Swift and the Barbie movie failed to garner many laughs. A few minutes in, Koy blamed his writers and told the audience that his jokes were the ones the crowd was laughing at. When speaking to the Times, Koy called those claims “a rookie move” further saying that the writers “busted their ass.”
“Those writers are dope and that was not my intention at all,” Koy said. “They were amazing, they had my back and I need to make sure I fix that and I will, I always will.”
Koy further emphasized in the interview the importance of his hosting given that it marked the first time the Globes were hosted solely by an asian person.
“I’m the first Asian to ever solo host. It’s 2024, I’m the first out of 81 years,” he said. “Sandra Oh was the first co-host, but I was the first solo host. Imagine if someone said yes before me, we’d still be at the 82nd Golden Globes and still no Asian as a solo host, so if I didn’t say yes, there still would never have been.”
Best of Rolling Stone