Published March 4, 2024, 3:44 p.m. ET
Ahead of his fourth go at hosting the Oscars, Jimmy Kimmel proposed a second chance for this year’s maligned Golden Globes host, Jo Koy.
While speaking with the Jimmy Kimmel Live host, The Hollywood Reporter highlighted that Koy “caught a lot of flak” as host “in part because he went after folks in the room.” While the publication argued that Koy “isn’t a part of Hollywood in the way” that Kimmel is, Kimmel acknowledged that it’s “a lot easier” for him than Koy.
“It’s like if a stranger walks up to you and goes, ‘Nice shirt, Tom Selleck,'” he claimed. “If it’s one of your friends, you don’t take offense to it, but if it’s somebody you don’t know, you might smack him one.”
He proposed the idea for Koy to “host the show next year” and for the Golden Globes to “give him a shot at doing it over,” which he argued would be “very smart.”
“I think he learned all the lessons, and he’s a funny guy,” he explained. “I think it would be nice for everyone.”
As for Koy, who was announced as host just weeks before the ceremony took place, his monologue and subsequent jokes received a rather adverse reaction from attendees, including an unimpressed Taylor Swift. He had clarified that he and his team had only 10 days to work through his material, teasing, “I wrote some of these, and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”
The comic has since addressed some of the jokes that didn’t quite hit, telling GMA3 that it was “a tough room,” per Variety.
One instance involved Koy attempting to rib Barbenheimer, joking that Oppenheimer “is based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project, and Barbie is based on a plastic doll with big boobies.” Barbie director Greta Gerwig issued a tactful response after the ceremony to Deadline, telling the outlet, “Well, he’s not wrong.”
Koy also admitted it had been a “rookie move” to blame his writers for the lack of laughs in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
Now, just under a week from the Oscars, Kimmel opened up to THR about his approach when asked about “how much” he worries about “insulting people.”
“I have such a fear of standing in front of a quiet audience but as far as people being mad, I don’t necessarily operate that way,” he shared. “I’m not interested in hurting anyone’s feelings, but sometimes some people are more sensitive than others and you just have to accept that.”
While he noted that “you can’t build your monologue around that” and that he’s “not looking to say anything mean,” he conceded, “not everybody’s going to love all the jokes.”
The 96th Annual Academy Awards air March 10 at 7/6c ABC. Find out who is presenting at this year’s ceremony.