James Corden has said he did “nothing wrong” and is feeling “zen” after being criticised by a New York restaurant owner for his alleged bad behaviour. The actor and comedian, 44, was briefly barred from Balthazar in Manhattan on Monday after Keith McNally claimed he had been “extremely nasty” to his staff on two separate occasions.
Mr McNally, who has operated a number of high-profile restaurants in the city since the 1980s, later revoked the ban after claiming to have received an apologetic call from the star. Corden addressed the incident during an interview with the New York Times that was planned before the spat.
Responding to the idea he could have cancelled the interview, he said: “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.”
Corden, who starred in and co-wrote Gavin and Stacey on the BBC, said he may speak about the incident further during Monday’s episode of his Late Late Show on CBS.
Asked whether he was aware of the public discussions taking place about him and Mr McNally, he replied: “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.”
He added that “it feels like such a silly thing to talk about”.
Corden suggested to the New York Times that any online criticism of him likely reflected only a small part of the population.
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 per cent 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.”
In his original post on Instagram, Mr McNally posted parts of a manager’s report describing the incidents and accused Corden of being “extremely nasty” to his staff on two separate occasions.
Corden announced in April that he was stepping down as the host of The Late Late Show in the US. He is said to have extended his contract with CBS to present the show for one more year before finishing in the summer of 2023.
Corden’s representatives have been approached for comment.
