Jimmy Kimmel has reignited his long-running faux feud with Matt Damon, saying he is “thrilled” that the actor might not be attending the Oscars.
The talk show presenter is hosting the star-studded event for the third time on March 12 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Speaking to US outlet People about the Bourne star, Kimmel joked: “I’m thrilled that he won’t show. I hope he never gets nominated again.”
He also added that he blames Damon, a five-time nominee who took home the best original screenplay Oscar for 1997’s Good Will Hunting, for the chaos in 2017 when La La Land was wrongly declared the best picture winner, which then was presented to Moonlight.
“I believe that his presence in some way caused the envelope mix-up”, he joked.
Kimmel had hosted the award show that year and, at the time, described the incident as “the weirdest TV finale since Lost”.
Reflecting on the confusion ahead of the 2023 ceremony, he said: “Jokes aside, I was sitting next to Matt when that literally unfolded, and he figured out what was going on a couple of seconds before I did.
“His version of the story is that I figured it out before he did… So whatever the case, neither one of us knew what the hell was going on.”
The pair have had a long-standing faux feud that dates back many years and was sparked when Kimmel started signing off his popular American talk show saying: “Apologies to Matt Damon, we ran out of time.”
Comedian Sarah Silverman, who used to date Kimmel, made a video with Damon in 2008 as a joke, during which she told Kimmel the pair were having an affair.
Kimmel followed it up by teaming up with Damon’s best friend, actor Ben Affleck, to produce a video of their own.