The owner of Balthazar has roasted, deep-fried and flambéed James Corden over the “phony” apology he made on his talkshow last month. I’m quite simply obsessed with this feud that refuses to die.
Restaurateur Keith McNally took to Instagram on Monday to cut sick at Corden, who’s clearly been a very naughty boy.
“LAST POST ON THIS NON-STORY,” the post began. Off to a cracking start, if I’m being honest.
“I don’t want to over-egg the pudding, but in Friday’s London Times Corden flip-flopped and told a massive lie AGAIN.
“‘I never screamed at anyone, I didn’t shout, didn’t call anyone a name or swear or use derogatory language… How is it remotely a thing? When that person who posted the story wasn’t even there’.
“On second viewing, I found his TV ‘confessional’ contrived and phony. The actor will say anything to save his bacon.
“In the scheme of things my opinion means nothing, but after Friday’s interview and a second look at his fraudulent confessional, I’ve given up on James Corden. For good.
“END OF STORY.”
First things first: McNally was referring to a recent interview Corden did with The Times Magazine. The bloke claimed he complained to the staff ‘cos he just wanted to protect his wife from her dangerous egg yolk allergy.
Look, I’m not excusing the man in any way, shape or form. But all I’m gonna say is my Mum has told me I’m “annoying” for being anaphylactic to some nuts. Sometimes you just want someone to protect you from allergens, you know?
But alas, I digress. The “contrived and phony” TV apology was the one Corden did on his talkshow, The Late Late Show — which a heap of Balthazar staff called bullshit on.
“I’m sorry but that is bullshit,” one anonymous server told Daily Mail.
“He wanted an omelet that had only egg yolks. Not the egg-white omelet, just egg yolks.
“Why then would you even bother ordering an omelet if you’re allergic to eggs?”
Several staff members have claimed the egg allergy was not the real reason for Corden’s outburst, bringing up the fact that he’s been an asshole in the past.
“We deal with that kind of behaviour from people all the time,” barman George added.
“But he… he was very, very rude.”
ICYMI: after a week-long break from his talk show The Late Late Show, Corden returned and discussed the spicy beef he’s got going on with McNally.
“How is everybody doing? Did everybody have a good week off?” Corden began, before joking that he did not “totally switch off” from the news while he was away.
“I wish that was the case,” he added, before discussing the drama. “As some of you may have seen, last week there were stories about me being banned from a restaurant.”
He said he considered posting about it on social media but instead went with the “British attitude” of “never complain, never explain.”
“But as my dad pointed out to me on Saturday, he said, ‘Son, well, you did complain, so you might need to explain’,” he continued. “Look, when you make a mistake, you’ve got to take responsibility.”
Corden said he was recently having brekky at one of his “favourite” restaurants when it all went down.
“I love the food, the vibe, the service,” he said. “If I lived in New York, I would go every day, on the proviso that they would let me in.”
Taking my James corden posters down
— pj (@pjayevans) October 18, 2022
He went on to explain that his wife, who was at the table, has a “serious food allergy” and was brought something that she was allergic to.
“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,” Corden added. “And it is a comment I deeply regret.”
He added: “But here’s the truth of it. Because I didn’t shout or scream, I didn’t jump up out of my seat. I didn’t call anyone names or use derogatory language, I had been walking around thinking that I hadn’t done anything wrong. 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 concluded: “I get it. I totally understand everybody getting upset and I accept everybody’s opinion. I also hate, as I said to the owner that day, that I ever upset anybody ever. It was never my intention.”
This prompted McNally, who initially called Corden out, to revoke his lifelong ban with an Instagram post.
“LAST WORD……..” he began.
“Last night on his TV show, James Corden very graciously apologised for his outburst at Balthazar. It takes a real man to do this. In the past, I’ve behaved much worse than Corden, but wasn’t man enough to apologise. For this reason, I’m going to lift the ban on Corden and impose one on myself instead. I’m going to ban myself from Balthazar for two weeks. People who live in Glass Houses…”
It comes after McNally torched Corden’s first response to the whole thing.
In an interview with The New York Times, the British comedian called the whole thing “silly” to which McNally served another roast via Instagram.
“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,” McNally wrote.
McNally previously accepted Corden’s apology on social media after the talkshow host called him to apologise.
“James Corden just called me and apologised profusely. Having fucked up myself more than most people, I strongly believe in second chances,” he wrote.
“So if James Corden lets me host his Late Late Show for 9 months, I’ll immediately rescind his ban from Balthazar. No, of course not.
“But…. anyone magnanimous enough to apologise to a deadbeat layabout like me (and my staff) doesn’t deserve to be banned from anywhere. Especially Balthazar.
“So come back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Corden, Jimmy Corden. All is forgiven xx.”
Punters are now calling on James Corden to apologise directly to the staff he repeatedly abused and offer large tips as compensation.
“Of course he apologised,” one person wrote on McNally’s post. “He’s being dragged everywhere online. The only form of an acceptable apology is changed behaviour.”
“Why apologise to you and not the staff?” a second follower asked, while another queried: “Noooo need to backtrack. He should be apologising directly to your staff.”
“Wait, really? What about the staff and his obvious holier-than-thou bullshit rants? He’d have never apologised to YOU (er.. .for publicity purposes) had his PR rep not made him do it to save face,” a fourth person pointed out.
“Let him apologise, but keep his ass out of Balthazar… the place doesn’t need his attitude.”
“He should attend Balthazar again and order just a beer and leave a 2000 dollar tip and a written apology to your wonderful staff,” another commenter suggested.
James corden free entry brother
— Jurassic Park Updates (@JurassicPark2go) October 19, 2022
In McNally’s initial post, he wrote: “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.”
“I don’t often 86 a customer, to today [sic] I 86’d Corden. It did not make me laugh.
“Here are two examples of the funny man’s treatment of my staff. He behaved similarly in my former restaurant, Cafe Luxembourg, a few years back.”
He went on to share two manager’s reports from alleged incidents involving the former talkshow host.
“MANAGER’S REPORT #1: ‘In June, James Corden was here on table 61 (although this is diabolical, it happens very occasionally in all restaurants). After eating his main course, Corden showed the hair to Balthazar manager G. who was very apologetic. Corden was extremely nasty to G., and said: ‘Get us another round of drinks this second. And also take care of all of our drinks so far. This way I write [sic] any nasty reviews in Yelp or anything like that’.”
Going to Balthazar dressed as James Corden in Cats for Halloween as a bit.
— Jason Diamond (@imjasondiamond) October 31, 2022
The second report was also a doozy.
“MANAGER’S REPORT #2: ‘James Corden was at Balthazar with his wife on October 9th for brunch. He asked for a table outside. Brunch maître 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!’ M.K. was very apologetic and brought G. over to the table. He returned the dish, and after that, everything was fine. He gave them promo Champagne glasses to smooth things out.
He concluded the post: “G. said that Corden was pleasant to him but nasty to the server. M.K. was very shaken, but professional that she is, continued to finish her shift.”
James Corden’s nasty behaviour has been well-documented online for years.
Around the time that Ellen DeGeneres saw her fall from grace, fellow comedian Eric Andre predicted in an interview with Vanity Fair that James Corden will be next.
“Is that what cancel culture’s devolved to? ‘That guy’s not nice!’ James Corden is fucked if that’s the only criteria to get called out,” Andre said.
“James Corden and Lorne Michaels are screwed! They’re trembling in their fucking boots.”
Following this interview, tea-spilling Instagram page Deuxmoi was sent a crazy amount of DMs from followers with not-so-nice stories about the Brit.
One anonymous user called him an “asshole” and claimed that one time at the Met Gala, Corden threw his jacket on the floor “and just… left it.”
Then when she picked it up for him and told him he needed to check it, he responded, “Someone will handle it.”
Another DM came from someone who once sat in Corden’s audience back in 2017. The fan claimed James Corden “stopped the show and called out an audience member for not clapping enthusiastically enough.
“He identified him, made everyone stop to know who he was talking about and told him to get out of the filming if he didn’t clap and look excited.”
This story was backed up by another follower who apparently knew Corden’s wife.
watching the long awaited downfall of James Corden pic.twitter.com/R0YcTtC1E9
— ms pop culture (@ms_popculture) October 17, 2022
There were also a coupla waiters who spoke out, one described him as a “meal returner” and another told a story about how he once dined with Harry Styles and the talkshow host screamed at the staff and was generally horrible.
One anonymous source claimed Corden was “notorious for not paying commissions.”
Another goss-spiller said he’s “no joke one of the TV hosts in our industry we’re warned not to work with.”
The general consensus seems to be that “at the beginning of his career he was lovely, then the fame got to his head.”
He once even admitted that he acted like “a brat” at the height of his fame and yet he still hasn’t seemed to correct his behaviour.
These are just a couple of many, many, many horrid stories about his behaviour. They’re… not pretty.
This man is trash.
