Days after he reportedly called and apologized to a restaurant owner for his allegedly abusive behavior toward staff, popular English television host James Corden broke his silence and claimed he hasn't "done anything wrong."
"I haven’t done anything wrong, on any level,” said Corden in an interview with The New York Times to promote his Amazon Prime Video miniseries "Mammals."
Corden did not say if he apologized to Keith McNally, owner of Balthazar restaurant, recently. But he described the eatery brouhaha as "silly."
“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," Corden told the New York Times.
A few days ago, McNally said he has forgiven the television show who called him to apologize profusely.
“James Corden just called me and apologized profusely. Having fuxxxd up myself more than most people, I strongly believe in second chances. 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 apologize to a deadbeat layabout like me (and my staff) doesn’t deserve to be banned from anywhere. Especially Balthazar. So Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Corden, Jimmy Corden. All is Forgiven. xx," wrote McNally on Instagram.
Corden also said: “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 at Monday’s show. My feeling, often, is, never explain, never complain. But I’ll probably have to talk about it."
Reacting to Corden's "I haven't done anything wrong" comment, McNally took to Instagram and wrote: "I’ve no wish to kick a man when he’s down. Especially one who’s worth $100 million, 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.
"Although I didn’t witness the incident, lots of my restaurant’s floor staff did. They had nothing to gain by lying. Corden did.
"I wish James Corden would live up to his Almighty initials and come clean. 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. 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," McNally added.
McNally shared two examples of Corden’s nasty behavior in the restaurant, according to a report by dailymail.com.
In the first incident, McNally said that Corden found a hair in his main course when dining there in June, before demanding free drinks for the mistake.
"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 any nasty reviews on yelp or anything like that,” said McNally.
In the second incident, Corden asked for a table outside, and Carey ordered an egg yolk omelet with a salad. The TV host was dining with his wife, Julia Carey, at the eatery on Oct. 9 for brunch.
The couple complained to the server that there was "a little bit of egg white mixed with the egg yolk" and sent the dish back.