James Corden World Premiere of "CATS" in NYC

James Corden Reacts To Restaurant Owner Calling Him 'The Most Abusive Customer'

Home / News / James Corden Reacts To Restaurant Owner Calling Him 'The Most Abusive Customer'

By Favour Adegoke on October 21, 2022 at 12:45 PM EDT

Actor and comedian, James Corden has given his view on the restaurant owner Keith McNally calling him out on social media.

McNally recently took to Instagram to criticize the comedian for being rude to his staff, citing two incidents within the past six months. He subsequently banned the comedian from his restaurant before retracting the decision hours later, claiming that Corden had profusely apologized.

Speaking with the New York Times, the comedian tagged the drama about the incident as "silly," adding that he had "done anything wrong." Corden also called for maturity from online folks, saying that real life differed from social media.

Read on to learn more.

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James Corden Thinks 'It's So Silly'

James Corden
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In a conversation with the New York Times, Corden addressed allegations made by McNally, the owner of Balthazar, that the television personality's behavior whenever he visited was rather appalling.

On Monday, McNally, 71, banned Corden from eating at Balthazar and referred to him as "the most abusive customer to my Balthazar workers since the restaurant began 25 years ago." The punishment, however, only lasted for a few hours since Corden "apologized profusely," according to a follow-up post by McNally.

The Times writer said that James merited some credit for continuing the interview in the aftermath of the event that made headlines, but the celebrity was unyielding.

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"I haven't done anything wrong, on any level. So why would I ever cancel this? I was there. I get it," the late-night talk show host said in the interview published Thursday of his drama with McNally, adding, "I feel so Zen about the whole thing. Because I think it's so silly."

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The Allegedly 'Abusive' Incidents

Earlier in the week, Corden made headlines when McNally took to Instagram to narrate details on how the comedian, whom he called "a tiny Cretin of a man," had mistreated his staff on two occasions when he visited his restaurants.

The first instance referenced an incident in June when Corden discovered a hair in his food while dining at a table with friends. McNally said that the manager profusely apologized for the mishap but that Corden took on a "nasty" tone and asked that all his bills for the night be written off. He allegedly also asked for an extra round of drinks.

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In reference to the second incident, which occurred on October 9, McNally stated that Corden "began yelling like crazy" at a staff of his after discovering that the egg yolk omelet his wife, Julia Carey, had ordered had "a little bit of egg white." McNally also claimed that the comedian ranted further when the remade dish came out with home fries instead of a salad.

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James Corden Gets Dragged Online 

James Corden USA - 2019 Primetime Emmy Creative Arts Awards - Los Angeles
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In McNally's post, several individuals commented on Corden's attitude during that incident, with some even threatening to boycott some of his shows.

One fan said, "You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat people in the service industry. I won't be able to watch carpool karaoke anymore with this in the back of my head. Glad you made this public. Maybe he will treat people better in the future."

Another follower commented, "There's a special place in hell for people who treat hospitality staff as if they're beneath them."

Another person wrote, "I've often wondered if there's a limit to that tolerance and appeasement. I'm really glad to see that there is. No staff should be treated like this, no matter how fine an establishment."

James Corden Calls For Maturity About The Incident

James Corden World Premiere of "CATS" in NYC
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When the 44-year-old celebrity was questioned explicitly on whether he was aware of the internet conversation after McNally's assertion, Corden said that he hadn't followed it up.

He said, per Metro, "I haven't really read anything. It's strange. It's strange when you were there. I think I'm probably going to have to talk about it on Monday's show," he admitted. "My feeling, often, is, never explain, never complain. But I'll probably have to talk about it."

In addition, James advised people to "be a little grown-up" about the matter and maintained that real life differs much from social media.

He added, "Should we not all be a little grown-up about this? I promise you, ask around this restaurant. They don't know about this. Maybe 15 percent of people."

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