James Corden can “eat for free” for a decade if he says sorry to Balthazar servers, says owner
The owner of Balthazar restaurant has offered James Corden free food at his establishment for a decade if the TV host apologises to the staff he allegedly offended.
Keith McNally took to social media on Friday (October 21) in response to Corden claiming that he hasn’t “done anything wrong”, amid controversy over his apparent behaviour towards servers at McNally’s New York City restaurant.
Corden’s alleged actions initially led to a ban from the eatery before being later withdrawn.
“If [Corden] goes one step further and apologises to the 2 servers he insulted, I’ll let him eat for free at Balthazar for the next 10 years,” McNally wrote on Instagram on Friday.
It follows Corden, who hosts The Late Late Show, allegedly ringing up McNally earlier this week to “apologise profusely” for what McNally has claimed was “abusive” behaviour towards his employees on multiple occasions.
McNally began his original complaint: “James Corden is a hugely gifted comedian, but a tiny cretin of a man. And the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.
The owner went on to say that he very rarely bans anyone from his restaurant before providing examples of Corden’s abusive behaviour towards his staff.
McNally explained how, during a visit in June, Corden demanded a round of drinks “this second” and that his previous drinks be made free after he found a hair in his food. After finishing his main course, he was then “extremely nasty” to the restaurant manager.
On another occasion this month, McNally alleged that Corden was once again abusive to staff members when they got his wife’s omelette order wrong.
However, following his reported apology to McNally, the Gavin And Stacey star attempted to clear his name of any wrongdoing in a Thursday (October 20) interview with The New York Times. “I haven’t done anything wrong, on any level. So why would I ever cancel this [interview]?” he said.
He added: “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 continued that he might address the incident on tomorrow’s (October 24) episode of The Late Late Show. “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.”
Meanwhile, McNally added in his message on Friday: “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.”
The restaurateur noted that while he “didn’t witness the incident” at the time, “lots of my restaurant’s floor staff did” and had “nothing to gain by lying” about the dining debacle.
“I wish James Corden would live up to his Almighty initials and come clean,” McNally added. “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.”
This week Corden has been the subject of various memes and internet jokes.
Scottish Comedian Limmy, who has taken aim at Corden several times before, joked on Twitter: “I can no longer support James Corden.” Ryanair also issued the comedian a joke ban on Twitter.
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Charlotte Krol
NME
