Comedian and chat show host James Corden, 44, was banned from a New York restaurant Balthazar on Monday. This was in response to him being 'extremely nasty' to staff on two occasions, said owner Keith McNally. Corden has since called McNally and 'apologised profusely', resulting in the ban being lifted.
The whole disagreement started at Balthazar in June, when Corden allegedly found a hair in his food, which he then showed to staff. In response, he ordered the manager to 'get us another round of drinks this second. And also take care of our drinks so far.'
The second incident occurred on 9 October, when Corden and his wife TV producer Julia Carey, went to brunch. According to McNally, she 'ordered an egg yolk omelette with gruyere cheese salad.'
Once they received their food, Corden 'called the server M.K. and told her there was a little bit of egg white mixed with the egg yolk.' The dish was quickly remade, but was accidentally sent out with fries instead of the salad.
Corden reportedly started yelling at 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!'
The server, according to McNally, was 'very apologetic' and sent out complimentary Champagne for the couple. She received more abuse during the brunch and was 'shaken' for the rest of her shift as a result.
McNally said he was initially 'reluctant' to publicly hit out against Corden, but decided to do so 'out of loyalty to restaurants everywhere'.
His viral Instagram post certainly didn’t pull any punches, calling Corden 'a tiny cretin of a man… and the most abusive customer to my staff at Balthazar since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.'
After Corden called him to apologise, McNally rescinded the ban, saying 'I strongly believe in second chances.' Some of McNally's Instagram followers, however, have responded negatively, with one commenting 'If you want people like him around - I'll never eat there.'
The drama continued after McNally refused to let the subject lie on his public social media profiles. Balthazar's owner recently shared a story with his almost 100k Instagram followers, where he claimed that a British Airways cabin crew member whispered to him on his flight that she 'never cared for James Corden either'. A new player was dragged into the conflict after McNally uploaded a photo alongside the story of a cabin crew member who, it was later revealed, allegedly had nothing to do with the interaction.
Ellie Toyn, whose photograph was used in McNally's Instagram post, hit out on her own Instagram account against his 'vile' and 'thoughtless' behaviour, clarifying in no uncertain terms that she was not involved, and in fact had not worked for British Airways in over a year. Suffice to say, McNally swiftly deleted his post and left an apology in Toyn's Instagram comments.
If these latest developments are anything to go by, it doesn't look like the Corden drama will die down anytime soon...
If you want to find out what all the fuss is about, why not book a table at the Balthazar Soho?