The revitalized Golden Globe Awards are returning for their 2024 ceremony with the comedian Jo Koy serving as host.
The 52-year-old comedian will host the 81st Golden Globes ceremony on January 7, 2024, with the broadcast streaming on the Paramount+ app at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
Though Koy (real name: Joseph Glenn Herbert Sr.) has joined the ranks of the world’s top comedians in recent years, Thursday’s announcement from the Globes marks his first awards show hosting job.
He also stirred up headlines in recent years for his relationship with fellow comedian Chelsea Handler, on whose eponymous talk show he was a regular guest.
Koy gushed that he was ‘so excited’ to be hosting the Golden Globes in a statement shared with the announcement.
Jo Koy, 52, was announced as the host of the 81st Golden Globe Awards show on Wednesday. It marks the comedian’s first awards show hosting gig; seen in April 2022 in Las Vegas
Koy can be seen when the show airs on the Paramount+ streaming app on January 7 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT
‘I’ve stepped onto a lot of stages around the world in my career, but this one is going to be extra special. I’m so excited to be hosting the Golden Globes this year,’ he wrote. ‘This is that moment where I get to make my Filipino family proud. Mahal Kita [Google it]!’
The phrase means ‘I love you’ in Tagalog, one of the most prominent languages in the Philippines, where his mother hails from.
In a video shared to his Instagram account around the same time, a clearly excited Jo said viewers were ‘wondering’ who this year’s host would be, before shouting, ‘It’s me!’
He added, ‘It’s going to be me, the whole time,’ after giving his fans all the details about how to watch the show.
‘We are thrilled to have Jo host the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards and bring his infectious energy and relatable humor to kick off Hollywood’s award season. We can’t wait to see what he has in store for the stars in the room and a global audience,’ added Helen Hoehne, the Golden Globes President. ‘We know Jo is bringing his A-game.’
Koy previously struck up headlines for his relationship with Chelsea Handler.
After appearing on her talk show going back to 2007 to 2014, he recounted in a 2021 Hollywood Reporter interview that he messaged Handler in December of 2020 to ask if he could give her a call.
‘Not if you’re trying to f*** me,’ she responded in deadpan, though the two struck up an blossoming series of phone chats.
By the summer of 2021, Chelsea was making regular appearances on Jo’s Instagram, which led fans to speculate that the two were dating, though according to them they were just friends at the time.
But he later told THR that she made the first move in August of that year when she asked him to kiss her.
Koy breathlessly announced the news on his Instagram on Thursday. In a statement issued around the same time, he referenced his Filipino roots and said he would make his family proud
Although his career has taken off in recent years, Koy also attracted attention in 2021 and 2022 for his relationship with comedian Chelsea Handler. They announced a split in July 2022; seen in April 2022 in Las Vegas
Handler recalled saying, ‘I think you have a crush on me, and if you do, you should do something about it and see what happens.’
But after being inseparable for nearly a year, they announced in July 2022 that they had broken up.
The two had nothing but praise for each other and painted a picture of an amicable split, but months later she alluded to ‘behaviors’ from Koy that they couldn’t ‘agree on.’
In December, Handler said that she and Koy were no longer on speaking terms, and in January of this year she said she would no longer be commenting on the split.
However, Koy went on to call their breakup ‘beautiful’ in May.
The 2024 Golden Globes ceremony comes as the show attempts to move on from the scandals of its former parent organization, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
The group was hit with payola allegations in 2011, and it was criticized that year for nomination the Best Picture contenders Burlesque and The Tourist.
Both films received terrible reviews, but the HFPA voters had been flown by Burlesque producers to a Cher concert in Las Vegas, leading critics to allege that the act had helped the film receive an inappropriate nomination.
The Tourist’s star Angelina Jolie was also reported to have personally lobbied members of the group ahead of her film — which costarred Johnny Depp — receiving a nomination.
The organization was further tarnished in 2018, when Brendan Fraser alleged to GQ that former HFPA president Philip Berk had sexually assaulted him in 2003. Berk was subsequently fired from the organization in 2021 after he called Black Lives Matter a ‘racist hate movement’ in an email to HFPA members.
More recently, a 2021 Los Angeles Times investigation revealed several ethical issues within the organization.
The exposé also revealed that the HFPA had no Black voters in the organization, which many critics took as a reason for Black actors being snubbed in previous years.
The show’s then-host NBC subsequently dropped the Globes in 2022, and the organization was subsequently broken up.
Handler later attributed the split to ‘behaviors’ of Koy’s that she couldn’t ‘agree on,’ though they remained amicable and he called their split ‘beautiful’ in May of this year; seen in August 2022 in Hollywood
The Globes have been swept up in controversy in recent years over payola allegations and HFPA members were influenced by A-listers. The organization was lambasted for a 2021 LA Times report revealing it had no Black members
A new for-profit entity was created from the group’s assets Eldridge Industries and its subsidiary Dick Clark Productions, which had produced the show since 1993.
Meanwhile, the HFPA’s charitable activities continued via the creation of a new, separate non-profit entity.
The Globes returned to NBC under new managed in 2023, but the show featured poor ratings and was only on a one-year contract.
This year marks its debut as a streaming-only show.
