James Corden has said it was “never my intention” to upset the staff at a New York restaurant, but acknowledged he was “rude” during an incident that saw him kicked out.
The 44-year-old actor and comedian addressed the incident during the latest episode of his talk show The Late Late Show.
He said that he was later “walking around thinking that I haven’t done anything wrong,” reports RTE.
Last week he was briefly kicked out of Balthazar in Manhattan after his owner, Keith McNally, claimed he was “extremely nasty” to his staff on two separate occasions.
McNally’s social media post sparked a strong social media backlash, with requests to “ban” Corden elsewhere.
On Monday’s episode of CBS about him, Corden said his comments had been “in the heat of the moment” but promised that he would “apologize in person” to Balthazar’s staff.
Speaking of McNally’s claims, he said: “Because I 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 haven’t done anything wrong. But the truth is I have made a rude, rude comment. And it was wrong. It was an unnecessary comment, it was ungracious to the server,” reports RTE.
Corden said that after seeing McNally’s post, he “immediately” contacted him to “tell him how upset I was.”
“(I told him) how upset I was that anybody was hurt by anything that I had done and anything that I had said, and we had a good talk. He appreciated the call. I was happy that we got to clear the air. And I felt like we dealt with it privately… but by this point, the story was out there, and more people were upset,” he said, reports RTE.
According to RTE, after showing a series of scathing tweets to his audience, he continued: “I get it. I totally understand. I understand everybody getting upset and I accept everybody’s opinion. I also hate, as I said to the owner that day, that I’ve ever upset anybody ever. It was never my intention. It just wasn’t. I love that restaurant. I love the staff there. I hope I’m allowed in again one day so when I’m back in New York I can go there and apologise in person, which is something I will absolutely do.”
McNally lifted the ban after receiving Corden’s apology and also announced the news on social media.
Corden previously told the New York Times that he had done “nothing wrong” and that he felt “Zen” about the controversy.
During an interview planned before the incident, he also suggested that any online criticism of him likely reflected only a small part of the population.
Corden announced in April that he would step down as host of The Late Late Show in the United States.
He is said to have extended his contract with CBS to host the show for another year before ending in the summer of 2023.
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