Last week was a bit of a rough week for James Corden. And this week, he feels he has some explaining to do...
On Monday, October 17, restauranteur Keith McNally stated in a now-viral post that the UK-born funnyman was now banned from his New York City-based restaurant Balthazar after being "extremely nasty" to his staff.
McNally recounted two incidents in which Corden was "abusive" to his staff, and it became a real talking point for several days.
But just hours later, McNally took to Instagram again, this time to announce that he was lifting the ban after Corden called him up to "apologize profusely".
Then, days after his apology, the late-night host seemed to go back on his remorse in an interview in which remarked: "I haven’t done anything wrong, on any level."
"I think I’m probably going to have to talk about it on Monday’s show. My feeling, often, is, never explain, never complain. But I’ll probably have to talk about it," he added.
And talk about it on Monday's show is exactly what he did.
Check out what he had to say about the incident below:Corden, who has been the host of The Late Late Show since 2015, started: "Things are going to get written about me. 'Never Complain, Never Explain' is very much my motto. But as my Dad pointed out to me on Saturday, he said ‘Son, well you did complain, so you might need to explain'
"Look when you make a mistake you’ve got to take responsibility, so I thought I would share with you what happened.
"A couple of weeks ago, I was in New York with some friends, and we went for breakfast at one of my absolute favourite restaurants. It’s a place called Balthazar. And I genuinely love it there. I love the food, the vibe, the service."
"But she hadn’t taken a bite of it or anything, no worries – we sent it back. All was good," he continued.
"As her meal came wrong to the table the third time - in the heat of the moment, I made a sarcastic, rude comment about cooking it myself, and it is a comment I deeply regret.
"I understand the difficulties of being a server. I worked shifts at restaurants for years. I have such respect and I value anyone that does such a job. And the team at that restaurant are so great – that’s why I love it there. The restaurant manager and the server, they were lovely.
"[...] But here’s the truth of it. Because I didn’t shout, or scream – I didn’t get up out of my seat, I didn’t call anyone names or use derogatory language – I’ve been walking around thinking I hadn’t done anything wrong… right? But the truth is I have. I made a rude comment, and it was wrong. It was an unnecessary comment. It was ungracious to the server."
Corden went on to explain that he called McNally to apologize and hoped he would be allowed to dine at Balthazar again.
