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Jimmy Kimmel’s Final Matt Damon Oscar Joke Got Scrapped After the Best Picture Mix-Up — Find Out What It Was

Whole new meaning to the last laugh. Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel had one final Matt Damon joke planned for the end of the awards show on Sunday, February 26, but it was scrapped after that major, universe-destroying Best Picture mix-up. According to a show source, the late-night host had planned on mocking pal Matt Damon one more time — but the night, of course, went sideways, and Kimmel had to step in to save the show after presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced La La Land as the winner instead of Moonlight.

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Audience reacts to "Moonlight" being announced as best picture winner at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Audience reacts to “Moonlight” being announced as best picture winner at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Matt Sayles/Invision/AP

“Jimmy had to go in and save everything at the end. Everyone was so shocked, there was no anger, it was more like: ‘Oh my God, this is crazy,’” the insider recalls to Us Weekly, adding that the snafu was obviously not planned or part of the planned script, which was suppose to end with Kimmel roasting his faux-nemesis Damon once more.

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“If you look at the picture where everybody saw the wrong tape, you’ll see Jimmy Kimmel next to Matt Damon,” the insider points out to Us. “Jimmy had a whole bit that got nixed obviously because of the Best Picture mix-up — he was going to do a whole thing with Matt Damon asking him what it’s like to be a loser. It was the perfect end to the night, but then obviously once the whole envelope thing happened, it got scrapped.”

Matt Damon (L) and host Jimmy Kimmel speak onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.
Matt Damon (L) and host Jimmy Kimmel speak onstage during the 68th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Kevin Winter/Getty Images

As previously reported, while La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz handled the mix-up as graciously as he could, Kimmel, 49, also helped ease the tension by cracking jokes about the mistake.

“This is very unfortunate, what happened. Personally, I blame Steve Harvey for this,” the funnyman quipped of Harvey’s infamous Miss Universe 2015 flub, when he announced the wrong winner. He also jokingly yelled at the Bonnie and Clyde actor: “Warren, what did you do?!”

Beatty, for his part, was reportedly handed the wrong enveloped which was labeled “Actress in a Leading Role” and had Emma Stone’s name on it. “I want to tell you what happened. I opened the envelope and it said, Emma Stone, La La Land,” Beatty explained on stage. “That’s why I took such a long look at Faye, and at you. I wasn’t trying to be funny.”

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The show source tells Us that once everything was resolved, “there wasn’t really any talk about it backstage between Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway and the La La Land and Moonlight teams. Everybody was just ushered off so quickly.”

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