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It always seems the more being an 'everyday nice guy or gal' is part of a celebrity's persona, the less nice they turn out to be in real life, doesn't it?
Case in point: actor, comedian and host of the The Late Late Show, James Corden, was recently banned from iconic NYC spot Balthazar by its famous chef, Keith McNally, for being abusive to waitstaff.
McNally announced that he's since lifted the ban after Corden contacted him and "apologized profusely" for his behavior, which McNally had documented and shared on social media.
But that hasn't done much to stop the outpouring of stories from people on social media who have either experienced or witnessed Corden's bad behavior firsthand.
It all began when McNally posted his tales of Corden's Balthazar tantrums to Instagram yesterday.
McNally minced no words in calling out Corden. He wrote:
"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."
He went on to detail incidents of Corden berating waitstaff and threatening to leave bad reviews unless he was given freebies on more than one occasion.
The stories instantly went viral, and before long, Corden reached out to McNally to apologize. McNally then posted a more friendly message to Corden in a subsequent Instagram post:
"James Corden just called me and apologized profusely. Having fu*ked up myself more than most people, I strongly believe in second chances..."
"...[A]nyone magnanimous enough to apologize to a deadbeat layabout like me (and my staff) doesn’t deserve to be banned from anywhere. Especially Balthazar."
But ultimately, the damage was already done. After McNally's post went viral, social media filled up with stories of Corden's bad behavior, including one in which he refused to help his wife with their baby during a flight and drowned out its crying with noise-canceling headphones.
\u201cObsessed with these stories of James Corden being terrible\u201d— Sam Stryker (@Sam Stryker) 1666037835
And of course, the discourse has spawned no shortage of jokes and memes.
\u201ci was an intern for james corden and as soon as he closed his office door he would drop the british accent then take off his fat suit and also his real name is jack the ripper\u201d— Girl with no problems (@Girl with no problems) 1666067742
\u201cI actually think it\u2019s very classy of James Corden to acknowledge his established pattern of unrelentingly bad behavior and not ignore it like it\u2019s his screaming baby and exhausted wife on a transatlantic flight.\u201d— Bess Kalb (@Bess Kalb) 1666107210
\u201cthat server who gave james corden\u2019s wife a side of fries instead of salad \u201d— yes my name is nick (@yes my name is nick) 1666101121
\u201cLeaked footage of James Corden at Balthazar\u201d— Anthony Dominic (@Anthony Dominic) 1666057103
\u201cMy mom just referred to James Corden as \u201cnighttime Ellen\u201d and I\u2019m dying.\u201d— Kaitlyn Jeffers (@Kaitlyn Jeffers) 1666055843
\u201cJames corden: table for thre- \n\nBalthazar:\u201d— Saint Hoax (@Saint Hoax) 1666049885
\u201cwatching the long awaited downfall of James Corden\u201d— ms pop culture (@ms pop culture) 1666050367
\u201c\u201cThey are being very unfair to James Corden. That\u2019s right. Who gave such a wonderful performance as Bustopher Jones. They won\u2019t let him in the restaurant. If I\u2019m re-elected, he\u2019s going back. He\u2019s going back to Balthazar folks. On day one we will be looking into it very strongly.\u201d\u201d— Brenden Gallagher (@Brenden Gallagher) 1666080636
\u201cmaybe James Corden had to do karaoke in a car because he was banned from all the bars\u201d— T (@T) 1666048150
\u201cthe guy who called james corden out is the same guy who got canceled for defending ghislaine maxwell and woody allen and literally no one cares about this because that\u2019s how much we all hate corden lol\u201d— youngmi mayer (@youngmi mayer) 1666094443
As for McNally, he's no angel himself--he has run into controversy on social media on several occasions for defending Woody Allen and sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In addition to Balthazar, he also own NYC mainstays Pastis and Minetta Tavern.