Critics Choice Awards Host Dings Ex-Boyfriend Jo Koy’s Golden Globes Performance in Opening Monologue — WATCH

Critics Choice Awards Host Dings Ex-Boyfriend Jo Koy’s Golden Globes Performance in Opening Monologue — WATCH

Chelsea Handler referenced ex-boyfriend’s Jo Koy’s disastrous Golden Globes performance during her opening monologue as host of the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday.

In a nod to Koy repeatedly throwing his writers under the bus while delivering his poorly received Globes monologue, Handler — after confessing her fondness for older men — cracked, “Unfortunately Martin Scorsese isn’t here tonight, but that’s not going to stop me from letting everyone in this room know that I would toss him around like a little Italian meatball. Thank you for laughing at that, my writers wrote it.” (Watch the moment above.)

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Koy’s Globes monologue earned a rare TVLine reader grade of “F.” (Watch the full video.) During the opening remarks, he made fun of Ozempic use, railed about Oppenheimer‘s length, prompted Meryl Streep to perform the Wakanda salute and, most notably, snuck in a dig at Taylor Swift.

“As you know, we came on after a football doubleheader,” the comedian said during the live show last week. “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? On the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift, I swear.” The camera quickly cut to Swift, who was sipping her drink in a seemingly unamused fashion, an image that has since been widely circulated and memed on social media.

Koy later responded to the criticism of his performance and acknowledged the Swift joke fell “a little flat.” Overall, he called the ceremony an “off night,” and admitted to feeling deflated by the overall reaction saying, “I wanted to give a little bit more of me, and I fell a little short. That’s all.”

Handler and Koy share a long personal and professional history. Koy was a recurring panelist on Handler’s late-night pop-culture commentary series Chelsea Lately between 2007 and 2014, and the pair went on to date in 2021. They split in 2022 before their one-year anniversary.

Handler announced the break-up in an emotional Instagram post, saying Koy “blew my heart open with love and because of him, my life experience has changed forever. To be loved and adored by [him] has been one of the greatest gifts of my life.” Handler credited Koy with renewing her “faith in men, in love, in being 100% who I am, and I’ve never been more optimistic for the future.”

The Critics Choice Awards aired live on Sunday from the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles at 7/6c on The CW. (View full winners list.)

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