‘I made a rude comment and it was wrong’: James Corden addresses Balthazar incident on ‘Late Late Show’

By Hafsa Khalil, CNN

James Corden used his opening monologue in Monday’s “The Late Late Show” to address the recent incident that saw him temporarily banned from a New York brasserie.

The British host of the CBS talk show said it was never his intention to upset anybody, and that he would like to “apologize in person.”

Corden told the audience that he had been adopting a “British attitude” of keeping calm and carrying on as things get written about him, following his motto: “Never complain. Never explain.”

But, as his dad — who was seated in the audience — reminded him, he “did complain, and so (he) might need to explain.”

Corden said he had been having breakfast with friends at Balthazar in New York, during which his wife explained she had a serious food allergy. He said she had been brought an incorrect order three times, when he “in the heat of the moment…made a sarcastic, rude comment about cooking it myself.”

“It’s a comment I deeply regret,” he added.

Corden said he didn’t realize he had done anything wrong because he didn’t “shout or scream.”

“I didn’t get up out of my seat. I didn’t call anyone names or use derogatory language. I’ve been walking around thinking that I hadn’t done anything wrong, right, 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,” he said.

When he read an Instagram post from the owner of Balthazar, Keith McNally, banning him from the restaurant, he immediately called him up to tell him how upset he was to have hurt anyone, which cleared the air.

After initially banning Corden last week citing abusive behavior, McNally posted that the comedian had “apologized profusely” in a call, and all was resolved.

Corden concluded the monologue by saying he would like to go to Balthazar when he was back in New York and apologize in person.

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