The New York restauranteur who accused James Corden of "abusive" behavior has clapped back after the star claimed he "did nothing wrong".
Trouble first began brewing between the Late Late Show host and restaurant owner Keith McNally at the start of this week, when McNally took to Instagram to slam Corden in a now-viral post.
As well as accusing the star of being "a tiny Cretin of a man" and "the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago," McNally formally banned him from his restaurant.
It seemed like all was resolved though when McNally revealed in a subsequent Instagram post that Corden had apologized and was now not banned from the restaurant.
But a few days later on Thursday (October 20), Corden further fuelled the conflict by giving a brazen interview to The New York Times in which he claimed: "I haven’t done anything wrong, on any level."
"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," he added.
Well, it didn't take long for McNally to retaliate. Yesterday (October 21), he once again took to Instagram to clap back at Corden in a post titled: "STORM IN A RESTAURANT TEACUP."
"I’ve no wish to kick a man when he’s down. Especially one who’s worth $100 Million," the restauranteur began.
McNally continued: "But when James Corden said in yesterday’s NY Times that he hadn’t done 'anything wrong, on any level,' was he joking? Or was he denying being abusive to my servers? Whatever Corden meant, his implication was clear: he didn’t do it."
The Balthazar owner went on to say that while he himself "didn’t witness the incident," many of his restaurant staff did. "They had nothing to gain by lying. Corden did," he wrote.
"I wish James Corden would live up to his Almighty initials and come clean," he joked, before taking aim at the star: "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."
McNally finished by claiming that if Corden were to apologize to the servers he insulted, he could eat for free at Balthazar for the next decade: "If he goes one step further and apologizes to the 2 servers he insulted, I’ll let him eat for free at Balthazar for the next 10 years."