Jimmy Kimmel does not hate Matt Damon. Not really.
Their long-running “feud” is a comedy bit. It has run on Jimmy Kimmel Live! for two decades, and both men are in on the joke.
That is the key point. If you watch a clip out of context, it can look like a real argument. Put the clips together, and the pattern is clear: staged insults, surprise appearances and friendly payback.
How the Joke Started in 2005
The bit began in December 2005. Kimmel ended an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! by saying, “Apologies to Matt Damon, but we ran out of time.”
Damon was not scheduled to appear on that show. The two men had not even met yet.
Kimmel later explained that he had just finished a weak show and wanted to make a producer laugh. Damon was simply the first famous name that came to mind.
The line got a laugh, so Kimmel kept repeating it. Night after night, he closed the show with a fake apology to a guest who was never booked.
Damon, for his part, later said people started calling him to ask about his connection to Kimmel. He said Kimmel had pulled his name out of thin air.
Damon Finally Appears — and Gets Cut Off
In September 2006, Damon finally appeared as a guest on the show. Kimmel introduced him, then promptly cut him off and ended the programme.
It was the joke taken to its logical extreme. Damon had waited almost a year to appear, only to be “bumped” again.
Instead of ending the bit, that appearance made it bigger. The audience now knew Damon was playing along.
The 2008 Videos That Made It Famous
The feud reached a new level in January 2008. Sarah Silverman, who was Kimmel’s girlfriend at the time, appeared on his show with a surprise video.
The video was titled “I’m Fucking Matt Damon.” Damon appeared in it himself, playing along with the gag.
Kimmel answered back with his own star-filled video, “I’m Fucking Ben Affleck.” Affleck is Damon’s close friend and frequent collaborator.
Silverman’s video went on to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics in 2008. A joke that started as a throwaway sign-off had become one of late-night television’s best-known bits.
The Bit Keeps Going
Over the years, the two men have kept finding new ways to revive the joke:
- In 2013, Damon took over hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! for an episode, retitling it in a jab at Kimmel.
- In March 2023, they staged a truce brokered by Ben Affleck — which fell apart on air the same night, as the bit demanded.
- While hosting the 2024 Oscars, Kimmel played a clip of Messi, the dog from Anatomy of a Fall, urinating on Damon’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- In October 2025, during Kimmel’s Brooklyn week, Damon surprised the audience in a mascot costume and was unmasked on stage.
None of these moments signal a real falling-out. They follow the same formula: Damon turns up uninvited, Kimmel pretends to be annoyed, and the audience enjoys the routine.
So Why Does It Look Like Hatred?
The bit works because both men commit to it. Kimmel acts exasperated. Damon acts like a man determined to get on the show at any cost.
Real feuds usually come with silence, cancelled projects or public statements of anger. This one comes with shared jokes, surprise cameos and years of cooperation.
The two men are, by all public accounts, friends. Damon was a guest at Kimmel’s wedding in 2013, and the pair have teamed up for charity events, including a celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
The Bottom Line
Jimmy Kimmel does not hate Matt Damon.
He picked Damon’s name at random for a joke in 2005, and the joke never stopped. Damon joined in, the audience joined in, and twenty years later the fake feud is still one of late-night television’s longest-running gags.
When Kimmel says he is out of time for Matt Damon, it is not an insult. It is the punchline.
