Perfectly Nice Man James Corden Says Balthazar Drama Is ‘Beneath’ Him

In a shock to all, the hilarious James Corden–Keith McNally restaurant feud has evolved into its third iteration, following the likes of Try Guys discourse and Don’t Worry Darling drama. If you thought this was over, you’re WRONG! And if you thought Corden cared about any of this “silly” tension at all, you’re even more WRONG, which he made sure to tell NYT’s David Itzkoff no less than 47 times over breakfast.

“I feel so Zen about the whole thing,” Corden said. “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.”

The New York Times, a publication certainly happy to dig in the dirt, had a scheduled breakfast chat with Corden in the works for a few weeks to discuss his upcoming mini-series Mammals. Of course, earlier this week, when Corden was banned and then quickly unbanned from restaurateur McNally’s scene-y Manhattan eateries for being a “tiny cretin of a man” and overall arsehole, Times writer Itzkoff had to ask him about it. It was also uncovered that Corden’s character in Mammals is a chef who stands up for better treatment of his staff. That detail legitimately had me wondering if we were all being bamboozled by the world’s stupidest marketing ploy. Honestly maybe.

“At first, he parried any discussion of McNally’s posts or the reaction to them,” Itzkoff writes. “Asked if he was feeling all right, Corden cagily said: ‘About what? What do you mean?’” We’re left wondering if Corden actually ever called McNally to apologize, like McNally’s followup Instagram post promised he did.

Corden, who again, is OVER this drama, did compare the media’s fixation on the ordeal to a “school principal offering aid to classroom bullies.” He then managed to say one of the few funny things I’ve ever seen come out of his mouth: “If I lived on Twitter, Hillary Clinton is the president of the United States and Jeremy Corbyn won by a landslide.”

Along with political delusion, Twitter is also filling up with a lot of stories about Corden’s longtime dickish behavior. One person recounted Corden ignoring his own wife and baby for an entire plane ride. In a conflation of tabloid timelines, one of the surviving Try Guy’s wives, Becky Habersberger, shared her account of witnessing Corden scream at a busboy in Los Feliz.

So, yes, maybe Corden is correct that “online criticism of him likely reflected the awareness and opinions of a small part of the overall population,” but it seems like that population is made up of like 99% of people who’ve interacted with him and know what he’s all about.

Anyways, tip your fucking waitstaff.

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