Kimmel: Jennifer Garner Came Up With 'F*cking Ben Affleck' & Got Harrison Ford Cameo
Jimmy Kimmel wasn't born fake feuding with Matt Damon, or fake romancing Ben Affleck. The story of how that all came to pass is pretty fascinating, and Kimmel shared it with People and Entertainment Weekly editorial director Jess Cagle.
One interesting tidbit is that Jennifer Garner -- sweet Everymom Jen! -- is the one who suggested the genius "F*cking Ben Affleck" video, and got Harrison Ford to be involved, too. Give that woman a producer credit!
Kimmel wasn't friends with Matt Damon or Affleck -- or anyone actually famous -- toward the start of his "Jimmy Kimmel Live" run. He said he had "a really bad show" with D-list celebs, and threw in the line "I want to apologize to Matt Damon. We ran out of time," saying "It was just the first A-list star I could think of."
Well, it was an inspired choice, because Damon's publicist called the show to say it was a funny bit, don't stop doing it. From there, Kimmel's girlfriend-at-the-time, Sarah Silverman surprised him by making the now iconic "F*cking Matt Damon" video.
Here's that clip, which has more than 14 million views on YouTube:
Obviously Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are best friends, and it was Affleck's wife Jen Garner who devised Kimmel's "F*cking" revenge.
"Jennifer Garner came up with the idea. She kind of thought it would be funny and was talking to Harrison Ford about it at a dinner, and Harrison Ford was tickled by the idea and said, 'Well, I'd like to be in that.' And when Harrison Ford said he might want to be a part of it, we decided to make it more like we are the world and bring all these celebrities in."
And the rest, as he says, is Internet history.
Here's the star-studded Ben Affleck video, which has nearly 10 million views on YouTube:
Kimmel is hosting the Emmys on ABC this weekend, and we wouldn't be surprised if more viral videos came out of the show.
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