While comedian Jo Koy has been roasted for the job he did hosting the Golden Globes, he’s arguably been criticized the most for his joke about Taylor Swift and the NFL. He tells the Los Angeles Times that he still doesn’t get why that one particular joke has caused such an uproar.
During the show, Koy said, “As you know, we came on after a football doubleheader. The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? On the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift, I swear.” Cut to Taylor, looking straight-faced and sipping her drink.
“I didn’t understand the Taylor tiff. Mind you, that one was just getting rewritten 50 million times, never ran it through, all the way up until we had to walk out,” Koy tells the Los Angeles Times.
He then explains, “The whole intention of that joke was to make fun of the NFL … and how they keep using cutaways to [her]. And it’s an obvious reason why.”
“I’m not saying anything that no one’s saying, and it’s obvious what that joke was,” he reiterates. “It’s about the NFL. It’s like, out of everything that has happened this is the one you choose to go after?”
Koy then adds he’s particularly upset that there was a negative reaction because he’s a Swiftie.
“What hurts the most is me just supporting Taylor, I support her, I love her work,” he says. “I got nieces that I bought tickets for. There’s no ill intent in that joke.”
Taylor hasn’t actually said anything publicly about the joke, so it’s not clear if she was offended or not. Last year, she told Time of her game attendance, “I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much.”
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