The Shady Side Of Jo Koy

Jo Koy's jokes about Taylor Swift and other topics dominating the pop culture discourse didn't go over so well at the 2024 Golden Globes, and Swifties are not a demographic you want to cross. They're the type of stans who will dredge up dirt on anyone who dares to criticize their idol, so when it comes to bombing his opening monologue in front of an intimidating crowd that included Swift herself, Koy may not be able to simply shake it off.

So, what would Swiftie sleuths searching for damaging stories about Koy discover? Well, they'd have to begrudgingly admit that he's no stereotypical villain; in a 2022 interview with the Los Angeles Times, "Girls Trip" star Tiffany Haddish fondly reminisced about Koy purchasing hotdogs for her when she was homeless, and Koy was a struggling comedian himself. But they might also learn that Koy's comedy mentors include Rob Schneider, who has engaged in controversial behavior such as tweeting his transphobic views. Schneider says Koy has influenced him in return, telling Variety in 2020, "After seeing what Jo does, I took any divisiveness out of my standup act."

Koy has also confessed to lying to further his career. He revealed that he once created a résumé full of fabricated performances, which he hoped would help him land a Def Comedy Jam gig. But this isn't his shadiest behavior by a long shot.

Long before Jo Koy seemingly annoyed Taylor Swift by joking about the NFL camera crew's infatuation with her (*sips drink*), he bombed big-time when his crowd work took a homophobic turn. In 2011, he suffered a wardrobe malfunction while performing at Chicago's Vic Theatre as part of the "Just for Laughs" lineup. As recounted by the Windy City Times, some audience members noticed that his fly was undone, prompting one fan who reportedly sounded male to shout, "I saw it!" Koy then responded, "What are you looking at, f***ing f***ot?" The crowd reacted to his use of an anti-gay slur by booing him until he left the stage.

Cameron Esposito, who is lesbian, was one of the comics who spoke out against Koy's offensive outburst at the time. "In this case, it doesn't seem to be part of a joke; it was an off-handed insult," she told the Windy City Times. Koy later issued an apology on Facebook, writing in part, "I'm truly saddened if I offended anyone with my poor choice of words, particularly the gay community. Homophobia is not funny." Unfortunately, he hasn't stopped incorporating bigotry into his stand-up routines, according to a disappointed TikTok user who attended one of his shows in 2023. After criticizing Koy for getting overly preachy while speaking about his religious views, the attendee recalled, "He then proceeded to call Sam Smith, who identifies as nonbinary, a 'that' and an 'it.'"

Jo Koy's family members have served as a source of inspiration for his comedic material, and they aren't always comfortable with what he says about them. During his 2017 special "Live from Seattle," Koy got laughs at the expense of his son Joseph Herbert Jr. by joking about the then-tween having horrible breath and body odor. But it was an anecdote about body insecurity that really upset Herbert Jr. 

In his 2019 special "Comin' in Hot," Koy recalls his concerned son saying to him, "My penis isn't growing, Dad! Just my pubic hairs." This is part of a long bit about the size of his son's manhood, during which Koy repeatedly says that it's smaller than average. "Oh, this is gonna suck for my son when this goes out on Netflix," he even quips at one point.

In a 2021 appearance on "Howie Mandel Does Stuff," Koy revealed that the aforementioned bit was actually an improvement on what it once was. This is because he decided to add a self-deprecating joke about his own manhood being small after realizing that the original version bothered Herbert Jr. "What I figured out was that I needed to make fun of myself more so that he would be more secure with me talking about him," Koy explained. He shared that this proved effective, and it has also helped that his bank account has experienced considerable growth since he first told the joke.

Jo Koy, who is half-white and half-Filipino, has fought hard to change the entertainment landscape he grew up in by advocating for more Filipino representation in movies and television. His passion project, "Easter Sunday," even features an all-Filipino cast. Much of his stand-up is also inspired by his observations of Filipino culture and his mother, Josie Harrison. 

Koy mimics his mom's Filipino accent when sharing stories about her, which some people find problematic. "More often than not, when you strip the accent away, there's no joke. The accent is the joke," said TikToker Soogia in a video that has been liked over 285,000 times as of this writing.

In an opinion piece for CNN Philippines, writer Marga Buenaventura observes that the supporting characters in "Easter Sunday" are "monolithic" and heavily informed by Filipino stereotypes. "[Koy's] entire comedy agenda is making Filipinos look like these funny caricatures [on] the American stage," one critic wrote on the Philippines subreddit. Other Redditors have complained that Koy's jokes about his mother have grown stale, and she's not the biggest fan of some them, either. In a 2017 interview with the Las Vegas Sun, Koy recounted a conversation he had with Harrison about an amusing anecdote about her that he wanted to include in a set. "She was like, 'You CANNOT tell that story, Joseph! Joseph! Come on! That's too much information!'" he recalled. "But now that she said that, I have to talk about it."

Chelsea Handler and Jo Koy's breakup was upsetting news to fans of the comedy power couple, but in a 2022 interview with The New York Times, Koy insisted, "We're always going to be friends." According to Handler, this declaration has proven false. On Brooke Shields' "Now What?" podcast, she offered some insight into what she was thinking when she decided to pull the plug on their relationship, saying, "I am not going to change the way that I behave in order to make you feel more comfortable." Handler didn't elaborate on what behavior Koy took issue with but did reveal that she and her ex were no longer on speaking terms. "There has to be some accountability from him about what happened because it was just ridiculous, and I don't think we can have a friendship until there's some accountability and some responsibility taken," she added.

If Koy was to blame for their breakup, it wouldn't be the first time he mishandled his relationship with Handler. In a 2021 interview with the Daily Beast, he admitted that his pride wouldn't allow him to join her on "Chelsea Lately" when she first started filming her popular late-night show. Koy's issue was that he would be a sidekick instead of the star, and he threw some shade at some big names in comedy when he explained why he turned Handler down. "I didn't want to be Andy Richter or Ed McMahon," he said.

In addition to offending Swifties at the Golden Globes, Jo Koy came under fire for making jokes about the "Barbie" movie that some critics viewed as misogynistic. First, he erased its feminist, empowering message when he reduced the movie's plot down to a being about "a plastic doll with big boobies." But he really stepped in a bucket of pink paint when he added, "The key moment in Barbie is when she goes from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite, and flat feet. Or what casting directors call character actor." Upon realizing that this joke wasn't exactly killing it, Koy made an error that might make some people in Hollywood wary of working with him in the future: He blamed the show's writers for the lack of laughs. He even said that the only jokes that bombed were written by the team that helped him with his material, not him. Koy later expressed regret over going off-script in a desperate attempt to save face. "That was a rookie move," he told the Los Angeles Times. "Those writers are dope."

Koy's ex had a little fun at his expense when she hosted the 2024 Critics Choice Awards. After her joke about her desire to have sex with director Martin Scorsese was met with hearty laughter from the audience, Chelsea Handler seemingly threw some shade at Koy's lack of decorum by saying, "Thank you for laughing at that — my writers wrote it."

Jo Koy has been on the wrong side of a few of his fellow funnymen. On the "Hood Stocks" podcast, comedian George Perez accused him of stealing material that's two decades old from another Filipino American stand-up star, Edwin San Juan. "He steals most of Edwin San Juan's style and everything," Perez said. Then there's Neal Brennan, who complained about Koy once refusing to bump his show at the Improv back by five minutes so Brennan could do a test run of some material he was working on for "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." But when Koy appeared on his "Blocked" podcast, Brennan let his guest know that all was forgiven. "I probably held that grudge five years," he said, sharing that he was able to let his feelings of bitterness go when he discovered how funny Koy is.

Felipe Esparza has also held a grudge against Koy. In a 2018 appearance on "Big Boy TV," he revealed that they were able to put their undisclosed differences behind them, but while they were feuding, Koy did something hard to forgive. Esparza was playing a game that required him to respond with a poo or fire emoji in response to photos of fellow comics, and he didn't hesitate when he held up the poo emoji for Koy. "He tried to get my wife fired at The Laugh Factory. A single mom, bro," said Esparza, "because him and I had beef."