On a day-to-day basis, one could only wish to live Taylor Swift’s life. The glamour, the wardrobe, the boyfriend… it all seems dreamy. But one occasion where we would rather be anyone else in the world than Taylor Swift? An award show. Literally any award show, or to be honest, any situation sitting in the audience of a man on stage with a microphone in hand.
Why? Because the 34-year-old singer simply cannot be in that situation without bearing the brunt of offensive, often sexist, jokes. She is, for these male comedians, the easiest target in the room. As proven during the 81st Golden Globe Awards last night, when host Jo Koy targeted her during his opening monologue (which bombed by the way).
His punchline of choice wasn’t about the Eras tour movie, for which she received a nomination for cinematic and box office achievement thanks to it grossing a record-breaking $123million (£97m) at its opening. Oh no, it was of course about something entirely less interesting and more predictable: her dating life.
What did Jo Koy say about Taylor Swift during his Golden Globes opening monologue?
‘The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? At the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift,’ Jo Koy said, to which the camera panned to a straight-faced, tight-lipped Taylor sipping her drink. The comedian - if you can still call him that after last night's performance - was of course referencing her relationship with NFL player Travis Kelce. Since Taylor started attending his games, the NFL has seen record viewing figures, ticket sales and even a 400% increase in Travis' jersey sales.
It wasn’t the only joke to receive deadpan expressions from the room of Hollywood elite, in fact much of Koy’s monologue was met with literal face palms making him now the most memeable part of the entire ceremony – particularly is out of touch, ludicrously unfunny Barbie jokes. But of course, for fans of Taylor, commentary on her dating life is now part and parcel of her attending almost any public event.
‘So far Jo Koy has insulted Taylor Swift, the woman responsible for the highest-grossing music tour EVER, and the women responsible for the highest grossing film in Warner Bros history — Barbie,’ one viewer tweeted. ‘This year, of all the years. Reductive, sexist, and cheap. Hate it.’
‘I have never in my life heard of a Jo Koy, but suddenly I am ready to campaign for him to never work in Hollywood again,’ another added. ‘I'm so sick of the misogyny in 2024 when 2023 was literally the year of Barbie + Taylor Swift, the year it felt like womanhood was finally being celebrated...’
Others pointed out the markedly funnier joke, that the Golden Globes did in fact have more shots of Taylor Swift than an NFL game (a win for feminism, if you ask us). But ultimately, it’s still disheartening that we’re even having this discourse online. Have we not had this debate before? Have we not already come to the conclusion that the endless commentary about Taylor Swift's dating life by public figures using her for cheap laughs is reductive? As famous as she is, Taylor may not be able to escape being used as a punchline by comedians, but one would hope that such comedy would have moved on from boring takes about her boyfriends.