James Corden said he “did nothing wrong” after a “silly” restaurant drama saw him briefly banned from a trendy New York Restaurant.
He also offered some choice words to the New York Times journalist who asked the question during their scheduled interview: “I just think it’s beneath all of us,” he said. “It’s beneath you. It’s certainly beneath your publication.”
The NYC restaurant Balthazar barred Corden from returning after owner Keith McNally lit him up on Instagram. McNally called Corden “the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.” Corden subsequently apologized, and McNally announced “All is Forgiven.”
According to McNally, Corden lambasted the staff for mixups with his meals, becoming “extremely nasty” after finding a hair in his food and saying, “Get us another round of drinks this second. And also take care of all of our drinks so far. This way I write any nasty reviews in Yelp or anything like that.”
During another incident, Corden’s wife ordered an egg yolk omelet that arrived with some egg white, and Corden reportedly began “yelling like crazy to the server: ‘You can’t do your job! You can’t do your job! Maybe I should go into the kitchen and cook the omelette myself!’”
As it happened, during their brunch time interview, Corden and the Times journalist observed another problem with eggs at a nearby table.
“Happens every day. It’s happening in 55,000 restaurants as we speak. It’s always about eggs,” Corden said. “Can you imagine now, if we just blasted her on Twitter? Would that be fair? This is my point. It’s insane.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong, on any level,” he said. “I feel so Zen about the whole thing. Because I think it’s so silly.”
Update: McNally has responded to Corden’s Times interview. “I wish James Corden would live up to his Almighty initials and come clean,” he wrote. “If the supremely talented actor wants to retrieve the respect he had from all his fans (all 4 of them) before this incident, then he should at least admit he did wrong. If he goes one step further and apologizes to the two servers he insulted, I’ll let him eat for free at Balthazar for the next 10 years.”
In any event, Corden’s time in this country may be coming to an end. He recently announced that after eight years of hosting The Late Late Show, he’d be exiting the program in 2023 and returning to the UK because he and his family are “homesick.” Before then, he’s set to star in the Prime Video original limited series, Mammals, dropping November 11th.
McNally responds!!! pic.twitter.com/pdAQKLgiE3
— Jason Diamond (@imjasondiamond) October 21, 2022