It’s safe to say that there were a fair few uncomfortable moments at last night’s Golden Globe Awards — namely due to host Jo Koy’s awkward “jokes.”
From Harrison Ford to Taylor Swift, several celebrities were seen looking seriously unimpressed by Jo’s so-called jokes, which also fell flat amongst viewers at home.
But one “joke” in particular that left fans and celebrities alike super unimpressed was Jo’s summary of the Barbie movie.
Of course, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie was a huge success, grossing over $1 billion within three weeks of its release in theaters and beating out Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer after they were famously released on the same day. What’s more, Greta became the first female solo director in history with a billion-dollar film.
Just last week, Barbie actor America Ferrera reiterated just how important the movie is for “generations of girls” being raised in a patriarchal society, as well as for “boys and men” who haven’t spent much time educating themselves on feminist theory.
“There are a lot of people who need Feminism 101, whole generations of girls...who don’t have words for the culture that they’re being raised in,” she said during an interview with the New York Times.
However, Jo didn’t reference any of this in his joke at the Golden Globes, instead opting to summarize the film as one based on “a plastic doll with big boobies.”
“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,” Jo quipped.
Jo went on, “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!" When his joke was met with minimal laughs, Jo giggled and added, "Some I wrote, some other people wrote."
While Jo also noted that he “watched Barbie” and “loved it,” the audience hardly laughed at his jokes about the film, with cameras capturing several of the guests’ reactions to the entire thing.
Selena Gomez was filmed putting her head into her hands in apparent disappointment, while Helen Mirren did the same thing.
Ayo Edebiri didn’t look up from the table, seemingly refusing to acknowledge Jo’s joke altogether. Meanwhile, Emma Stone’s apparent disgust seemed more overt, with the actor squinting her eyes and looking off to the side.
As for the cast of Barbie, cameras immediately captured director Greta’s reaction, and she certainly didn’t look impressed. However, she did nod along in response to Jo’s joke, leaving many heartbroken fans speculating that she’d perhaps expected to hear such remarks.
Meanwhile, Ryan Gosling, Margot Robbie, America Ferrera, and Issa Rae — all of whom starred in Barbie — were filmed looking less than pleased by the entire thing, too.
Similarly, fans at home hopped on to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their disappointment at the joke, which was described by many as “rooted in misogyny.”
“Reducing barbie to a movie about ‘a doll with big boobs’ for a joke… did you watch the movie with your eyes closed??? how did you miss the whole point,” one person tweeted.
“‘Barbie is based on a doll with big boobies’ is an INSANE joke to make about a movie with a plot about how difficult it is to be a woman in a man’s world,” another person added.