Greta Gerwig kind of agrees with Golden Globes host Jo Koy that 'Barbie' is based 'on a plastic doll with big boobies'

Gerwig said that Koy's reading of "Barbie" is a useful place to start when discussing what the film achieves.

• Greta Gerwig is unfazed by Jo Koy's joke about "Barbie" at the Golden Globes.
• The comedian has faced backlash for poking fun at the movie — and Taylor Swift — in his monologue.
• "She's the first doll that was mass-produced with breasts, so he was right on," Gerwig told the BBC.

Greta Gerwig has a unique take on the joke that comedian Jo Koy made about "Barbie" at the Golden Globes.

In his opening monologue on Sunday, Koy made a series of jokes about the movie, ahead of it being awarded the first-ever Golden Globe for cinematic and box office achievement.

"'Oppenheimer' is based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project, and 'Barbie' is on a plastic doll with big boobies," Koy said to a muted response from the audience.

Those watching at home took greater offense to the joke, and on X (formerly known as Twitter), some social media users branded Koy's monologue — which also saw him make an awkward Taylor Swift joke — tasteless and sexist.

However, "Barbie" director Gerwig appeared unfazed by the joke while speaking Wednesday on BBC Radio 4's "Today" program.

"Well, he's not wrong," Gerwig told presenter Martha Kearney. "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," Gerwig continued.

"Barbie, by her very construction, has no character, no story; she's there to be projected upon."

Gerwig praised the creator of the Mattel doll, Ruth Handler, for understanding that a doll like that was exactly what young girls wanted when Barbie was introduced in 1959.

"The insight that Ruth Handler had when she was watching her daughter play with baby dolls is she realized, 'My daughter doesn't want to pretend to be a mother. She wants to pretend to be a grown woman.'"

Gerwig continued: "She's been a villain, and she's been a hero, but it felt like in a way, even though it's so seemingly superficial, that it was such a rich place to start."

While "Barbie" was nominated for nine Golden Globes, it took home only two. As well as the inaugural award for cinematic and box office achievement, it also won best original song for Billie Eilish's "What Was I Made For?"