The biggest Fast and Furious feud is between Vin Diesel and the Rock, but after the release of The Fate of the Furious, a minor scrimmage has emerged between Diesel and Charlize Theron about the relative pleasure of kissing Vin Diesel. In the film, Charlize’s dreadlocked hacker Cypher kisses Vin’s hero Toretto in a crucial scene to make it clear that he’s turned his back on his family, and specifically his girlfriend Letty. In an interview with USA Today, Vin said, “Charlize Theron is not a bad kissing partner to have†and that he enjoyed the kiss very much: “A kiss cannot lie, lips don’t lie. No, they didn’t. She OWNED it.â€
On the Ellen show, however, Theron strongly disputed Vin’s claims. “I just don’t get it,†she said, pointing out that Toretto isn’t really supposed to enjoy the kiss in the first place. “I’m the crazy chick that’s doing this horrible thing to him and, as he should’ve, his character is just standing there frozen, like a dead fish.†Then, explaining that she’s baffled by Diesel’s claims about how she enjoyed shooting the kiss, Charlize added, “I like a bit more movement in my men.â€
So when Diesel returned to Ellen today, of course Ellen brought up the kiss and of course Diesel tried to defend himself once again. Though his argument mostly seems to be that kissing Vin Diesel has to be a great experience because Vin Diesel is great, and that even bringing up the words “dead fish†in front of Ellen, who voiced Dory in Finding Dory, is kinda rude. Diesel also vaguely admits that he was supposed to be in character and not enjoying the kiss, but mostly just grandstands for the confused, enthusiastic studio audience. “I don’t know how that solved anything,†Ellen concludes. “But that’s fine.â€