James Corden has pledged to change the so-called 'Spill Your Guts' segment of his talk show after it was branded "racist."
The controversial interview game involves Corden asking his Late Late Show celebrity guests awkward interview questions and giving them a choice between answering or forfeiting by eating eclectic foods.
Many of the dishes chosen to gross out the guests are staples of a number of East-Asian cultures, including balut, tripe, and chicken feet, which led to some accusing the show of promoting xenophobia.
Watch this example of the segment in the video below:Per E! News, the 42-year-old talk show host spoke about the segment in a recent interview on The Howard Stern Show, stating:
"We heard that story, and the next time we do that bit we absolutely won’t involve or use any of those foods.
"As you said at the start, our show is a show about joy and light and love, we don’t want to make a show to upset anybody."
However, Corden insisted that not all of the foods used in the segment were Asian in nature; adding that the choice of foodstuffs used in 'Spill Your Guts' changes depending on which guest is being interviewed.
Corden stated: "In the same way that when we played it with Anna Wintour, we gave her a pizza covered in cheeseburgers."
A Change.org petition aimed at canceling the segment was launched earlier this month by a woman from Queens in New York City named Kim Saira.
The description of Saira's petition reads: "The media holds so much influence: according to Wikipedia, the Late Late show averages over 650,000 viewers per episode.
"That means, 650,000 people are being influenced to think that native foods from Asian countries are 'disgusting' or 'horrifying.' Content like this continually perpetuates and encourages harm and racism against Asian Americans in our daily lives."
It continued: "We are holding James Corden and The Late Late Show accountable for their actions, and perpetual harm this segment causes to Asian American communities."
The petition also demanded Corden to issue a formal apology, and make a charitable donation to initiatives promoting Asian-owned businesses in the United States.
It has since accrued over 45,417 signatures out of 50,000, at the time of writing.
