Jonah Hill beef with Jay Baruchel resurfaces after ‘deeply insecure’ jiu-jitsu claim

A clip of Jonah Hill saying Brazilian jiu-jitsu has him ready to “f**king annihilate” anyone who still sees him as the “fat guy from Superbad” has gone viral, which in turn has reignited discussion about his beef with Jay Baruchel.

The footage itself is from an April episode of the SmartLess podcast, where he argues that his years of training in BJJ have transformed him – and he gives a warning to those who still think of him as the insecure Seth from the 2007 comedy. 

“I love Brazilian jiu jitsu, except my body is begging me not to love it. My wife is often like, ‘You’re not going to become a professional fighter. You know that, right? You’re a comedian’,” he says. 

Jason Bateman then asks, “If we got into it,” before Hill interjects, “I would f**k you up. I would f**k all three of you up.”

Jonah Hill says jiu jitsu has him ready to “annihilate” anyone who still sees him as the fat guy from Superbad

“I love Brazilian jiu jitsu, except my body is begging me not to love it. My wife is often like, ‘You’re not going to become a professional fighter. You know that,… pic.twitter.com/tDnNTRHTOo

— Yonan (@yonann) August 1, 2026

“And that’s the best part. My favourite thing is people are like, ‘Oh, Jonah Hill, f**king fat guy from Superbad.’ And I’m like, ‘I would f**king annihilate you, dude. I’m not kidding you. Try it. If you see me, try it, dude… Unless you are way bigger than me, f**k around and find out.”

Despite his bold words, his comments appear to have had the opposite effect on those who watched it, with plenty of viewers suggesting there’s a level of underlying “insecurity” behind it. “He strikes me as a deeply insecure man,” wrote one.

Another said, “Jay Baruchel was right about this loser,” and if you need a refresher, there’s a history between the two actors. 

Jay Baruchel spoke about his issues with Jonah Hill

Both Baruchel and Hill starred in the 2013 apocalyptic comedy This Is the End, where they played exaggerated versions of themselves, and they clearly dislike one another. 

Throughout the film, Hill comes across as the overly nice, people-pleasing celebrity who’s desperate to be liked by everyone, while Baruchel is one of the few people who isn’t fooled by the act and openly distrusts him.

Although it’s all for laughs, it turns out that this tension spilled out into real life too. Back in 2017, Baruchel was asked by Larry King, “What’s your relationship like with Jonah Hill?” 

He let out a laugh, before saying, “Yeah, there is one, I guess?… It was contentious once upon a time but I think now we’re each the devil the other one knows.”

But that wasn’t the last time he spoke about the situation. In 2023, Baruchel appeared on The Last Laugh podcast, where he spoke about his apprehension about the film itself. 

“I was also real crabby throughout that whole movie. And again, not telling tales out of school, I don’t think, but like, yeah, Jonah and I don’t get along super well, or at least didn’t back then,” he said. 

Once he saw the finished product, he knew it was a good movie – and him laughing at Hill’s moments was what sold it. 

“That’s when I knew it was a good movie, when I was laughing at Jonah’s sh*t… I never once found funny on set, and then in the movie, I actually found myself laughing.”

Christopher Mintz-Plasse also clashed with Hill

This isn’t the only situation that’s been brought up in light of Hill’s BJJ comments. There’s also his former hatred of his Superbad co-star Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who played Fogell, aka McLovin. 

In 2022, while celebrating the film’s 15th anniversary, Judd Apatow told Vanity Fair that Mintz-Plasse was “very caustic” in his audition and “attacked Jonah and did improvs insulting Jonah.”

Seth Rogen commented, “Jonah immediately hated him. He was like, ‘That was f**king with my rhythm. I couldn’t perform with that guy.’”

Apatow added, “Jonah said, ‘I don’t like that guy. I don’t want him doing it.’ And I said, ‘That’s exactly why we’re hiring him. It couldn’t be more perfect. The fact that it bothers you is exactly what we want.’”

Prior to this, Hill admitted, “Chris was really, really amazing off the bat. And I think he was really annoying to me at that time.”

Mintz-Plasse further elaborated on the tensions at a Fan Expo in 2024, saying, “Jonah Hill hated me so much after my audition. I get it. I was 17. I was not a professional actor.”

He said he went in and Hill roasted him, so being the high schooler he was at that time, he roasted him right back. While Mintz-Plasse left feeling excited about the audition, apparently Hill was like “F**k that guy, don’t cast that guy”. 

Of course, this is what got him the role. “I think him hating me really helped me book that part. It was a blessing in disguise,” he continued. 

Apparently, Hill hated him for quite a while after that, including during shooting the film, but they patched things up during the pandemic when Hill apologised to him for “being a d*ck during the audition”. 

Hill has never spoken about the issues with past co-stars. 

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Featured image credit: Steven/AFF-USA/Shutterstock/Sony Pictures