James Corden says he hasn't 'done anything wrong' and Balthazar row is 'insane'

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By Carina Murphy

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James Corden has hit back at the restauranteur who called him "abusive" and a "cretin of a man", claiming he did nothing wrong.

Earlier this week, Keith McNally - the owner of the New York eatery Balthazar - took to social media to slam Corden in a now-viral post.

"James Corden is a Hugely gifted comedian, but a tiny Cretin of a man. And the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago," McNally wrote before banning the Late Late Show host from his restaurant.

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Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy

Since then, McNally lifted the ban after Corden himself phoned to "apologize profusely".

However, it looks like the British comedian may have reignited the row in an interview with The New York Times on Thursday (October 20).

When asked about the recent scandal, Corden told the publication: "I haven’t done anything wrong, on any level. So why would I ever cancel this [interview]?"

He continued: "I was there. I get it. I feel so Zen about the whole thing. Because I think it’s so silly. I just think it’s beneath all of us. It's beneath you. It's certainly beneath your publication."

Corden went on to say that he would likely have to address the incident on Monday's episode of his talk show - but that he has not "really read" any of McNally's accusations.

"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 said.

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Julia Carey and James Corden attending the Vanity Fair Oscar Party held at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles on March 27, 2022. Credit: PA Images / Alamy

The interview took place at the Mark Restaurant in Manhattan, where Corden had apparently overheard a conversation from another table. Per The New York Times, another patron had been "curtly rebuking a waiter about the meal she had ordered" because the eggs were "not to her liking".

The outlet added that Corden "shot a conspiratorial glance across his own table" and said: "Happens every day. It’s happening in 55,000 restaurants as we speak. It’s always about eggs... Can you imagine now, if we just blasted her on Twitter? Would that be fair? This is my point. It’s insane."

In his original Instagram post, McNally accused Corden of yelling at staff when they served him his meal with fries instead of salad.

McNally wrote: "James Corden was at Balthazar with his wife on October 9th for brunch. He asked for a table outside. Brunch Maitre D' Allie Wolters took the party to table 301. Mr. Corden's wife ordered an egg yolk omelette with gruyere cheese and salad.

"A few minutes after they received the food, James called their server, M. K. and told her there was a little bit of egg white mixed with the egg yolk. M. K. informed the floor manager, G. The kitchen remade the dish but unfortunately sent it with home fries instead of salad.

"That's when James Corden 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!'"

Featured Image Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy