Simu Liu won’t be creating any bad blood with Taylor Swift when hosting the People’s Choice Awards next month.
“There will be no Taylor [Swift] slander at the 2024 PCAs,” the actor, 34, wrote via X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, January 11. “That’s a personal guarantee.”
Liu’s promise came just hours after it was announced he would emcee the awards show this year, which will take place on February 18 at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California. The ceremony will air live on NBC, Peacock and E!.
“I’m so grateful to have been asked to step up to the hosting plate for the 2024 People’s Choice Awards,” Liu said in a statement on Thursday. “It’s exciting to celebrate this incredible year in pop culture, and to do so with the incredible fans that make what we do possible.”
Liu has plenty of hosting experience under his belt. He presented the last two editions of the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ Juno Awards and also hosted the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ SciTech Awards in 2023.
“We’re thrilled to have Simu Liu host the 2024 People’s Choice Awards,” Jen Neal, executive vice president of live events and specials at NBCUniversal, said in a Thursday statement. “As a fan-favorite tour de force in Hollywood, Simu’s limitless charm and connection to fans perfectly embody the spirit of this awards show.”
Prior to accepting the gig, Liu previously won Action Movie Star at the PCAs for Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. This year, his role as one of the Kens in Barbie earned him a nomination for Movie Performance of the Year. He is up against his fellow Barbie costar America Ferrera for the trophy, as well as Charles Melton (May December), Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple), Jacob Elordi (Saltburn), Melissa McCarthy (The Little Mermaid), Natalie Portman (May December) and Viola Davis (Ai).
Barbie is also up for Movie of the Year and Comedy Movie of the Year, while Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie scored nods for Male Movie Star of the Year and Female Movie Star of the Year, respectively.
Liu’s comment about what is fair game – and what isn’t — when it comes to his jokes on the PCAs stage comes just days after Golden Globes host Jo Koy received backlash for his opening monologue at the 2024 ceremony. In addition to controversial comments about Barbie, Robert De Niro‘s personal life and Barry Keoghan‘s NSFW scene from Saltburn, one particular quip about Swift, 34, struck a nerve with viewers.
“The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? At the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift. I swear,” Koy said during one of his segments, referencing Swift being shown constantly on TV during boyfriend Travis Kelce’s football games. “There’s just more to go to.”
After the joke was met with silence, the camera cut to Swift, who was clearly unimpressed by the dig and could be seen in the audience sipping her champagne with a blank stare.
Koy, 52, addressed the awkward moment during his appearance on GMA3: What You Need to Know the following day, noting that it was the Globes joke he felt most bad about.
“I think it was when the Taylor one was just a little flat,” he recalled. “It was a weird joke, I guess. It was more on the NFL. I was trying to make fun of the NFL using cutaways and how the Globes didn’t have to do that. So it was more of a jab toward the NFL. But it just didn’t come out that way.”
Several days later, Koy admitted during an interview with the Los Angeles Times that he wasn’t sure why the quip about Swift didn’t land — and claimed he’s even a big fan of the pop star.
“What hurts the most is me just supporting Taylor, I support her, I love her work. I got nieces that I bought tickets for. There’s no ill intent in that joke,” he told the outlet. “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. It’s like out of everything that has happened this is the one you choose to go after.”
