"I didn't edit it" - Jay Leno says it was a 'mistake' to let Jimmy Kimmel 'humiliate' him on his show

Comedian Jay Leno is best known for his impressive run as a late-night talk show host. Recently, on April 23, Leno appeared in an episode of In Depth With Graham Bensinger, where the pair did a retrospective on the co median’s career including both the highs and lows.

Among the moments which Leno may now want to take back was Jimmy Kimmel’s appearance on The Tonight Show in 2010. At the time, Leno was embroiled in a difficult situation with Conan O’Brien, and Kimmel addressed them live on the air, humiliating Leno in the process. When speaking on the topic with Bensinger, Leno noted,

"When Kimmel came on my show and humiliated me on my own show, I let it happen. I didn't edit it,"

The seemingly regretful comedian continued,

"It was my mistake, I trusted somebody. I went, 'Ah, I made a mistake. Okay, I should pay the price.' And it's fine, it's fine. I mean, we could've edited it out of the show. It's real — it happened. It's my mistake. That's how you learn."

Jay Leno vs Jimmy Kimmel - A closer look

The root cause of the incident stemmed from Jay Leno reneging on his promise to hand over the reigns of his The Tonight Show to an up and coming Conan O’Brien. Leno’s actions were extremely divisive, especially within the framework of the entertainment industry, and Jay faced tremendous backlash from several key figures due to his final decision.

Following the entire ordeal, Kimmel made a guest appearance on Leno’s show and made matters worse by calling him out on the national broadcast. When Leno asked Kimmel about the best prank he's ever pulled as part of his The Tonight Show interview, Kimmel responded,

"I told a guy that five years from now I'm going to give you my show, and then when the five years came, I gave it to him, and then I took it back almost instantly."

This summed up what had gone down between Leno and O’Brien, and certainly did not endear Jay to the masses. Fortunately it seems as though there are no more remnants of bad blood between Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel as the latter went on to confirm they had mended fences in 2017, as per The Hollywood Reporter.

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“Jay and I have made peace. After my son had his operation, he called me and he was very nice.You can’t argue with [Leno’s] success and his longevity.”

Apart from the unfortunate incident in question, Bensinger and Leno broached several other topics of particular interest to fans of either personality. Some of the highlights from their discussion were Bensinger’s appearance as a young man on The Tonight Show, Jay Leno’s relationships with contemporaries David Letterman and Johnny Carson, and Leno’s love for cars.

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