The late-night TV wars have long been a thing of the past. But that doesn't mean there isn't a little animosity among the hosts. Case in point: Jimmy Kimmel and Jay Leno. The two comedians' on-air feud crossed over into real life thanks to Ben Affleck.
The beef between Kimmel and Leno extends back to NBC's Tonight Show debacle involving Leno and Conan O'Brien. According to Kimmel, he and Leno actually spoke on the phone when Leno was considering a move to ABC.
But when that fell through and Leno got a new deal with NBC, he went silent. Kimmel then ramped up his barbs at Leno, criticizing him for taking The Tonight Show away from O'Brien and backing out of his retirement plans. Kimmel went so far as to do an entire episode of his show dressed as Leno and doing a bad impersonation. For his part, Leno has referenced the feud from time to time but doesn't seem interested in dwelling on it.
So it must have been more than a little awkward when the two met face-to-face at Ben Affleck's Christmas party. Kimmel walked in the door just ahead of Leno, leading to some uncomfortable small talk among the three Hollywood stars.
Kimmel recalled the story during Affleck's April 23 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. According to Kimmel, Affleck couldn't help but call out the elephant in the room.
"We're both uncomfortably making small talk with you," Kimmel said to Affleck, "and you go 'Oh yeah, you guys have some thing with each other, right?'"
Affleck defended himself by claiming he didn't follow celebrity "gossip" or keep up with Kimmel's growing list of feuds. Kimmel fired back, arguing Affleck "dropped a grenade" on him.
Kimmel managed to laugh at the encounter on his show, but it sounds as if it was a painful start to the Christmas celebration. Then again, it's not the first time Affleck has forced Kimmel to face-off against an enemy. But the late-night host is probably more comfortable around Matt Damon than Jay Leno.