The playful feud between the pair goes back as far as 2005
Presenting at the Oscars 2023, Jimmy Kimmel resurrected his decades-long feud with Matt Damon and threw some playful jabs at the actor, Variety reported. At this year's ceremony, the host asked actress Jessica Chastain: ''Was it difficult filming your movie The Martian because your co-star Matt Damon can't read and smells like dog medicine?''
Ms Chastain laughed and responded, ''I didn't really have a lot of scenes with him, so it was fine.''
Notably, the hilarious feud dates back to the third season of ''Jimmy Kimmel Live'' in 2005 when Mr Kimmel joked that they had ''run out of time'' to speak to the A-list actor.
As for how it all began, Mr Kimmel told NPR, ''We had a bad show. ... The guests were bad, and I was feeling pretty bad about myself at the end of the program. And I decided to say, for the amusement of one of our producers who was standing next to me ... 'I want to apologize to Matt Damon. We ran out of time.' ... And he got a kick out of it, the producer, so I just started doing it every night to amuse him.''
The joke was such a hit that Mr Kimmel has continued to say it at the end of every one of his shows. From then on, the fake-bitter rivals continued poking fun at one another through several other skits, videos and songs over the years.
This time too, Mr Kimmel continued the tradition and concluded the Oscars ceremony by saying, ''Thanks to everyone who is a part of the show. Apologies to Matt Damon. Sorry, we went on a little long.''
During his opening monologue, the host also addressed the infamous Will Smith's Oscar slap. He started the event by joking about what would happen if anyone threatened physical violence during the award show telecast.
''We want you to have fun, feel safe and, most importantly, we want me to feel safe. So, we have strict policies in place. If anyone in this theatre commits an act of violence at any point during the show, you will be awarded the Oscar for best actor and permitted to give a 19-minute long speech. But seriously, the academy has a crisis team in place. If anything unpredictable or violent happens during the show, sit there and do absolutely nothing. Maybe even give the assailant a hug,'' Mr Kimmel said.
This is Mr Kimmel's third time hosting the Academy Awards.