After being met with a wave of backlash following one of the controversial jokes he made as host of this year's Golden Globes, Jo Koy has claimed he meant no harm by his humor.
The stand-up star took to the stage at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday night (January 7) to welcome the biggest names in film and television production to this year's annual award show.
Within minutes, however, the 52-year-old left viewers both at home and in the Los Angeles audience cringing in their seats after aiming a joke at singer Taylor Swift.
He'd also made one obscenely awkward wisecrack about the Barbie movie - which saw the likes of Helen Mirren and Selena Gomez put their head in their hands - but it was his joke about 'Anti-Hero' hitmaker that caused many members of the audience to look particularly less than impressed.
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Over the course of the last few months, there has been widespread speculation surrounding 34-year-old musician Swift's romance with NFL star Travis Kelce.
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Since being spotted together several times during the summer, the pair have had to deal with an ongoing commentary from music fans, sports-watchers and fellow celebs.
So, it's no wonder that Koy using a platform as big as the 2024 Golden Globes to make a jibe about her love life might grate on her a tad.
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He said to the star-studded audience: "The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL - on the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift."
"I swear, there’s just more to go to."
The camera then panned to a visibly irritated Swift, who pursed her lips in true Miranda Priestly fashion before taking a sip of her champagne.
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He quickly added: “Sorry about that," after noticing that the joke fell rather flat.
And now, less than a week later, Koy has claimed he meant no harm with his joke about Swift, and insisted he was 'just supporting' the star.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, he claimed: "I didn’t understand the Taylor [Swift] tiff.
"What hurts the most is me just supporting Taylor, I support her, I love her work. I got nieces that I bought tickets for. There’s no ill intent in that joke."
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He also claimed that his jibe was intended to make fun of the NFL itself, as opposed to Swift.
"It’s like, the cool thing about the [Golden] Globes is we don’t need to do cutaways for ratings," Koy explained.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight earlier in the week, he said of her frequent appearances during NFL coverage: "Aww, man, it was cute. I was just saying it was cute.
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"I was just saying it's less cutaways, that's all."
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Golden Globes, Taylor Swift
Rhianna Benson