Never cross a writer's room. In her opening monologue at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards, two-time host Chelsea Handler had a pointed message for her ex-boyfriend Jo Koy, who threw his writers under the bus during his cringe-worthy hosting gig at the Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 7.
The 29th annual Critics Choice Awards were held at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica on Sunday, Jan. 14. The ceremony, which honors the best in film and TV, was spearheaded by returning host Chelsea Handler. And the Grammy-nominated "Chelsea Lately" alum wasted no time in issuing an expert takedown of Koy, who was roundly criticized for a slew of unfunny jokes that landed like a lead balloon at the Golden Globes. Koy was a regular on "Chelsea Lately," and he and Handler dated in 2021 before calling it quits in 2022.
Koy's trainwreck hosting gig included a misbegotten joke about Barbie's "big boobies" and an attempted jab at Taylor Swift — after which the singer-songwriter demurely sipped her champagne. But things really went downhill when the comedian blamed his joke writers while bombing in real time.
"Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago," Koy said onstage. "You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up. Slow down. I wrote some of these and they're the ones you're laughing at."
In her opening monologue at the Critics Choice Awards, Handler addressed the crowd: "Thank you for laughing at that, my writers wrote it."
The audience erupted with laughter — no doubt eager to poke fun at Koy, who's defended his hosting job in recent days. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Koy explained that he didn't intend to denounce his writers onstage; rather, he was "just grasping."
"I love my writers," he told the outlet. "I love all three of them and I shouted them out. And I told them, like, that was a moment right there where I'm just grasping. I love them and I can't stop talking about them in every interview. They busted their a**, man."
