James Corden Downplays Balthazar Restaurant Incident: ‘I Haven’t Done Anything Wrong, on Any Level’
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James Corden might not be all that remorseful about the incident that got him temporarily banned from New York’s famed Balthazar, which he reportedly already apologized for. In a new interview this week, Corden maintained that he hadn’t “done anything wrong, on any level.”
Corden’s words came in a new interview with The New York Times on Thursday, just a few days after restauranteur Keith McNally called out Corden on Instagram for being verbally abusive toward his waitstaff. According to the NYT, the “Late Late Show” host did the interview with the reporter while eating at a restaurant in Manhattan, when he overheard another customer scolding a waiter about the eggs she had ordered. But, Corden noted that he would never call her out online for it.
“Can you imagine now, if we just blasted her on Twitter? Would that be fair?” he said. “This is my point. It’s insane.”
Corden was, of course, referring to earlier this week, when McNally publicly shamed him on Instagram, calling Corden “a tiny Cretin of a man” and “the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.”
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The restauranteur used the post to list two occasions which led to the decision to ban Corden from the restaurant. But on Monday night, McNally posted an update, saying that Corden had owned up to his actions and asked for forgiveness, and that the ban against him was no longer in effect.
But, in conversation with the New York Times, Corden downplayed the issue, saying that he didn’t want any praise for not cancelling the interview in an effort to avoid talking about McNally’s post.
“I haven’t done anything wrong, on any level,” Corden said. “So why would I ever cancel this? I was there. I get it. I feel so Zen about the whole thing.”
Corden added that the whole situation was “so silly” and questioned why people cared about it in the first place. “I just think it’s beneath all of us,” he continued. “It’s beneath you. It’s certainly beneath your publication.”
But, according to McNally, Corden “apologized profusely” after his first Instagram post calling the host out.
“James Corden just called me and apologized profusely. Having f—ed up myself more than most people, I strongly believe in second chances,” McNally wrote. “So if James Corden lets me host his Late Late Show for 9 months, I’ll immediately rescind his ban from Balthazar.”
McNally clarified that he was joking about that particular stipulation, but not about the ban being rescinded.
“Anyone magnanimous enough to apologize to a deadbeat layabout like me (and my staff) doesn’t deserve to be banned from anywhere. Especially Balthazar,” he added.
