Recent award shows draw criticism for sexist slants

It is officially award show season where many people are being nominated and winning awards based on their talents. While there are almost always controversies, these past few weeks there have been many arguments on social media about some sexism in these award shows. 

On Jan. 7, the Golden Globes 81st annual award show took place in Beverly Hills. The host was Jo Koy who has been a stand-up comedian for 30 years. Koy’s first joke that started some drama on social media platforms was one about the top global musician, Taylor Swift and her boyfriend Travis Kelce who plays on the Kansas City Chiefs football team. He said, “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL, on the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.” The camera immediately panned onto Swift as she took a sip of her drink unamused. 

Within minutes of this joke being told, videos and posts started spreading on nearly all social media platforms calling him sexist, asking who he is in the first place and noting he has no right making a joke about Swift. 

Later into the award show, Koy made a joke about Barbie and compared it to the movie Oppenheimer since they came out in theaters on the same day. Koy said, “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.”

This joke made people really upset since the whole purpose of the Barbie movie is that women shouldn’t be based on how they look but on their personality and skills. The movie also talks about how men are more equal to women and how difficult it is to be a woman in the modern day. 

On Jan. 8, Koy joined GMA3’s “What You Need to Know” to address his monologue. He only addressed the joke he made about Swift. He said, “I think it was when the Taylor one was just a little flat. It was a weird joke, I guess, but it was more on the NFL. I was trying to make fun of the NFL using cutaways and how the Globes didn’t have to do that, so it was more of a jab toward the NFL, but it just didn’t come out that way.”

In another award show controversy, the Oscars nominations came out on Jan. 23. The Barbie movie was nominated for eight Oscars. Greta Gerwig, who was the director of Barbie, and Margot Robbie, who played Barbie in the film, both did not get nominated for any category. Although Ryan Gosling, who played Ken, did get a nomination for best supporting actor. 

Before people on social media could post and comment on the questionable nominations, Gosling had an interview with Variety to talk about it. He said, “There is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no ‘Barbie’ movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally-celebrated film.”

Gosling also said, “No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit and genius. To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement,” and she also said, “they [the Barbies in the film] made us laugh, they broke our hearts, they pushed the culture and they made history. Their work should be recognized along with the other very deserving nominees.”