James Corden BANNED from Keith McNally’s Restaurants Over Allegations the ‘Tiny Cretin’ Abused Waitstaff
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Famed New York City restaurateur Keith McNally claimed Monday that late-night host James Corden has been abusive to his staff — and is now banned from his many restaurants.
McNally said Corden has a long history of abusive behavior at his restaurants, and cited two separate occasions that earned the comedian — who he referred to as a “tiny cretin of a man” — a full ban.
“James Corden is a Hugely gifted comedian, but a tiny Cretin of a man,” McNally on his Instagram. “And the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.”
McNally said he seldom bans patrons from his establishments, but shared two incidents detailed by managers at his popular Soho haunt Balthazar that earned the Late Late Show host his excommunication.
In the first, Corden demanded free drinks following a mishap:
In June, James Corden was here on table 61. (Although this is diabolical, it happens Very occasionally in all restaurants.) After eating his main course, Corden showed the hair to Balthazar manager G. who was very apologetic. Corden was extremely nasty to G, and said: “Get us another round of drinks this second. And also take care of all of our drinks so far. This way I write any nasty reviews in yelp or anything like that.”
According to another manager’s report from earlier this month, Corden allegedly lost it when his wife’s “egg yolk omelette with gruyere cheese” contained “a little bit of egg white”:
James Corden was at Balthazar with his wife on October 9th for brunch. He asked for a table outside. Brunch Maitre D’ Allie Wolters took the party to table 301. Mr. Corden’s wife ordered an egg yolk omelette with gruyere cheese and salad. A few minutes after they received the food, James called their server, M. K. and told her there was a little bit of egg white mixed with the egg yolk. M. K. informed the floor manager, G.
The kitchen remade the dish but unfortunately sent it with home fries instead of salad. That’s when James Corden began yelling like crazy to the server: “You can’t do your job! You can’t do your job! Maybe I should go into the kitchen and cook the omelette myself!” M.K. was very apologetic and brought G. over to the table. He returned the dish, and after that, everything was fine. He gave them promo Champagne glasses to smooth things out. G. said that Corden was pleasant to him but nasty to the server.’ M.K. was very shaken, but professional that she is, continued to finish her shift.
McNally wrote that Corden behaved in a similar fashion several years ago at his restaurant Cafe Luxembourg.
Corden will step down from The Late Late Show next year. CBS did not respond to a request for comment.
UPDATE: James Corden apparently issued a groveling apology for his bad behavior, earning the comedian a rescinded ban courtesy of McNally:
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