James Corden has finally responded to the allegations of bad behavior made against him by Balthazar owner Keith McNally earlier this week. These allegations opened the floodgates as other people shared sightings of the talk show host in other restaurants, supporting McNally’s initial post.
Corden spoke to the New York Times and argued that he was innocent and “didn’t do anything wrong.” He also believed the incident was insane as he and the interviewer watched a customer complain to a server about the eggs.
“Can you imagine now, if we just blasted her on Twitter? Would that be fair? This is my point. It’s insane.
“I haven’t done anything wrong, on any level. So why would I ever cancel this? 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.”
The talk show host also explained why he didn’t say anything when McNally released the open letter on Instagram. He thought addressing the issue would be “silly,” but is also aware that he has to talk about it at some point. He also argued that no one in the restaurant knew about the incidents mentioned online, nor was he confronted in person.
“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. My feeling, often, is, never explain, never complain. But I’ll probably have to talk about it. It feels like such a silly thing to talk about.
“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. I’ve been here, been walking around New York, not one person’s come up to me. We’re dealing in two worlds here.”
Corden was accused of multiple counts of rude and negative behavior in Balthazar by the restaurant owner. The open letter caused people online to share their own stories of sightings of Corden in other restaurants. The drama was resolved in less than a day when Corden apologized to McNally personally, lifting the ban placed on him.