James Corden can 'eat for free' for a decade if he apologizes to Balthazar servers he insulted, owner says
The owner of popular NYC restaurant Balthazar is taking James Corden's latest comments about their ongoing dinner drama with a grain of salt.
In case you haven't been keeping up with the ongoing food feud, The Late Late Show host was banned from Balthazar by owner Keith McNally earlier this week, with McNally alleging the comedian was "the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago." The restaurateur subsequently removed the ban after Corden apologized.
But, after Corden attempted to clear his name of any wrongdoing in a Thursday interview with The New York Times, McNally struck back on social media on Friday with a challenge for the Cats star: "If [Corden] 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."
"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?" McNally asked on Instagram. "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 wrote of J.C. "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."
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images James Corden
While speaking with the Times, Corden explained that he wasn't to blame for anything that happened at the restaurant. "I was there. I get it. I feel so Zen about the whole thing," he told the outlet. "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."
McNally first announced that Corden had been banned from the establishment in an Instagram post on Monday in which he called the actor "a hugely gifted comedian, but a tiny cretin of a man."
He referenced two separate manager's reports calling Corden "extremely nasty" toward multiple members of staff, including one incident in which he reprimanded them after his wife's egg yolk omelet contained "a little bit of egg white" in it.
McNally later shared that he had lifted the ban after Corden "apologized profusely" over the phone. "Having f---ed up myself more than most people, I strongly believe in second chances," he shared, adding, "All is forgiven."
EW reached out to Corden's reps for comment on the situation, but did not immediately hear back.
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