Jimmy Kimmel Reveals He Saved Matt Damon From Choking — and Why He Feared Being Charged With ‘Murder’

Jimmy Kimmel has been trash-talking his faux nemesis, Matt Damon, for 20 years — which is why he panicked when the A-lister, 54, had a near-death experience at his home.

“He started choking on pork rib,” Kimmel, 57, told Variety on August 18. “I said, ‘We have got to get him to the hospital,’ because if he dies in my house, I’m going to prison for the rest of my life. I will never be able to explain this as anything other than a murder.’”

Instead, Kimmel and his guests handled the Oppenheimer star’s emergency by trying the Heimlich maneuver “many times,” but the rib was stuck “too far down” Damon’s throat.

After searching the internet for answers, “we finally concluded that eating little bits of bread was the way to get that rib to work its way down into his stomach,” explained Kimmel. “Bread saved him.”

The pair’s famous “feud” dates back to 2005, when the talk show host announced at the end of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, “’Apologies to Matt Damon, but we ran out of time,” even though Damon hadn’t been booked on the show.

They kept up the gag over the years with various sketches, often including their mutual friend Ben Affleck. Most recently, they faced off on the Wednesday, July 30 episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, during which Damon and his trivia partner, Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings, won $1 million for his charity, Water.org.