Simu Liu is set to host this year’s People’s Choice Awards, and he’s already revealed what you won’t see during his opening monologue: any awkward jokes about Taylor Swift.
Following Jo Koy’s polarizing performance as host of the Golden Globes Sunday (Jan. 7) — during which the comedian made a quip that fell flat about Swift’s attendance at NFL games — the Barbie actor has pledged not to shade the “Anti-Hero” singer while on duty at the PCAs.
“there will be no taylor slander at the 2024 PCAs,” Liu tweeted Thursday (Jan. 11), adding, “that’s a personal guarantee.”
Aside from the fact that the Shang-Chi star is a well-documented Swiftie himself, it’s hard to imagine that any entertainer would want to have a repeat of Koy’s reception at the Globes. A couple of the stand-up comic’s jokes went over poorly at theceremony, particularly the following: “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? At the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.”
Immediately after the remark, cameras cut to Swift, who was in attendance as a nominee for cinematic and box office achievement thanks to her Eras Tour concert film (Barbie took home the prize). Her reaction was indifferent at best, with the pop star simply pursing her lips with a stony look on her face and taking a sip of champagne.
Koy later clarified that he had “no ill intent” when making the joke, adding that “the whole intention of that joke was to make fun of the NFL.” “What hurts the most is me just supporting Taylor, I support her, I love her work,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “The joke is about the NFL and how they keep using cutaways to [her]. And it’s an obvious reason why. I’m not saying anything that no one’s saying, and it’s obvious what that joke was. It’s about the NFL.”
Another bombed joke from Koy had to do with one of Liu’s own projects, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, in which he played one of several Kens opposite Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.
“Barbie is [based] on a plastic doll with big boobies,” Koy said of the film, later earning criticism from those who thought the quip was sexist or reductive. Gerwig, however, had a more neutral take on the controversy.
“Well, he’s not wrong,” she said in a recent interview. “She’s the first doll that was mass produced with breasts, so he was right on. And you know, I think that so much of the project of the movie was unlikely because it is about a plastic doll.”
See Liu’s tweet about Swift below.
