Jimmy Kimmel Mocks Matt Damon for ‘Chinese Ponytail Movie’ in Oscar Opener

But ABC host noted actor’s unselfishness in handing “Manchester by the Sea” role to childhood friend Casey Affleck

Jimmy Kimmel’s feud with Matt Damon has gone on for many, many years — and the Oscars host didn’t shy away from taking a dig at Damon at the ceremony on Sunday, either.

“I’ve known Matt for a long time now,” Kimmel said during his opening monologue. “I’ve known him so long, when I first met Matt I was the fat one. We’ve had problems, he’s a selfish person — those who’s worked with him know this. But he did something unselfish and I want to commend him for it.”

He proceeded to explain that Damon had the chance to star in Oscar-nominated film “Manchester by the Sea,” which has gone on to win numerous awards and has been lauded by critics, but instead, he served as a producer on the film and gave the leading role to his childhood friend, Casey Affleck.

“He could’ve taken the role for himself,” Kimmel continued. “[But he] made a Chinese ponytail movie instead. ‘The Great Wall’ went on to lose $80 million.”

Kimmel’s feud with Damon stretches back to 2005, when Kimmel ended an episode by apologizing to Damon for bumping him off the show.

“The guests were bad, and I was feeling pretty bad about myself at the end of the program,” Kimmel told NPR in 2013. “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.”

He then repeated the same joke every night, which prompted Damon to appear on the show and film hilarious segments of the duo going to couples counseling. This has been going on for 11 years.

When TheWrap interviewed Kimmel about his hosting gig, he said that the feud with Damon will only end “when one of us is dead, perhaps. Maybe when we’re both dead.”

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