Jimmy Kimmel Says His Twitter Battle with Kanye West Made Him 'So Happy'
The thought of engaging in a public Twitter feud may scare some, but for Jimmy Kimmel, he embraces it.
“I live for moments like that,” the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host said in his February cover interview for GQ.
“When I got in a Twitter battle with Kanye, I was so happy. My wife makes fun of me. She’s like, ‘You are so happy right now.’ I’m absolutely beaming. I feel very confident in a situation like that,” Kimmel, 50, said, referencing his September 2013 social media exchange with Kanye West.
But the parody sketch left West anything but amused, as was made evident in his litany of scathing Tweets. He cussed out Kimmel, whom he trashed, among other things, as a “manipulative media motherf—–.”
Kimmel, for his part, responded to the verbal melee at the time in his opening monologue, telling the audience that an hour before the show, he received a call from West demanding a public apology. The host also claimed that during their phone chat, West told him, “I am the most powerful voice in media,” before delivering this warning: “You will never be able to show your face at a 14-year-old’s high school football game and be cool again.”
But in true Kimmel fashion, the funnyman was able keep a sense of humor about it all. “Finally, I’m in a rap feud,” he cracked. “I always wanted to be in a rap feud.”
Weeks later, the duo ended their feud face-to-face when West appeared on Live!
“You take a risk when you make a comment that is dark,” Kimmel told GQ. “In a way, it’s you saying, ‘I trust you. I trust your sense of humor, and I trust that you will not use this against me.’ It’s a little gift, I think. When somebody makes a truly offensive joke to me, I love them a little bit more. If it’s just offensive, it’s no good. But there’s nothing better than when something emotional or serious is going on, maybe it’s a wedding toast, and somebody funny leans over and whispers something terrible into your ear.”
“I live for those moments,” said Kimmel. “I live for being the one who does the whispering.”
In November, West’s wife Kim Kardashian West, with whom he just welcomed a third child, appeared in a special edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live! ‘s popular segment, “Mean Tweets” to celebrate Kimmel‘s 50th birthday.
During the segment, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians reality star, 37, read a tweet from her husband when he was feuding with Kimmel: “Jimmy Kimmel put yourself in my shoes … Oh no that means you would have gotten too much good p—- in your life.”
