Preserve your folks shut and your frenemies nearer. Jimmy Kimmel says that, amid their long-running “feud,” Matt Damon and pal Ben Affleck supplied to pitch in and assist cowl his Jimmy Kimmel Live employees’s salaries throughout the ongoing Hollywood strikes.
Kimmel joined forces with fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers and John Oliver to launch the Strike Force Five podcast on Spotify earlier this week, with the proceeds set to profit their respective out-of-work staffers because the Author’s Guild of America strike — which started in Could — continues. In its debut episode, Kimmel reveals his real-life associates’ generosity.
“Ben Affleck and the despicable Matt Damon contacted me and supplied to pay our employees,” Kimmel shares, referencing the decades-long gag through which Kimmel has made a convention of ending his broadcasts with, “Apologies to Matt Damon, however we ran out of time,” despite the fact that Damon was not scheduled to seem on the present.
The joke has hilariously developed since its 2005 inception, with Affleck even getting concerned by “smuggling” Damon on Kimmel’s present below his outsized jacket in 2016. Most not too long ago, Affleck stopped by this system to advertise his movie, Air, in 2023 and delivered a bit involving a shock FaceTime name along with his greatest buddy.
Again to the strike: Kimmel continues his podcast remarks by noting that Affleck and Damon “wished to pay out of their very own pockets,” suggesting they might every cowl one week’s price of his staff’ salaries. Fallon chimes in, agreeing that the duo are “good individuals.”
Kimmel says that he in the end turned down the supply, saying, “I felt that that was not their accountability.” The confession prompts teasing from his fellow hosts, with Meyers asking if the supply was “transferable” and Colbert questioning, “May you say sure after which give your cash to us?”
Ryan Reynolds additionally apparently proposed to chip in and help Kimmel’s employees, providing them free Mint Cell service for a yr. Mint Cell serves as one of many podcast’s sponsors.
Strike Drive 5 was created after the boys had a collection of personal Zoom calls each week to debate the intense points that encompass work stoppage.
“What occurred as a substitute was a collection of hilarious and compelling conversations,” a press launch for the podcast states. “Now, Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel, Meyers and Oliver invite you to pay attention to their once-private chats on this all-new podcast.”
Strike Drive 5 can have a restricted 12-week run on Spotify.
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