A weary nation breathes a sigh of relief as James Corden welcomed back at Balthazar
For a second there, it almost looked as if the country were turning on its most confounding late-night host
Aux News Balthazar
Well, that certainly was a close one. Yesterday afternoon, America dripped with sweat as the host of The Late Late Show and a participant in that embarrassing Cinderella traffic jam was banned from New York-based fancy pants restaurant Balthazar for approximately five minutes. Thankfully, he apologized to Balthazar owner Keith McNally for allegedly being “a hugely gifted comedian, but a tiny cretin of a man” and is now welcome back with open arms.
The tense stand-off between one of New York’s most famous restaurateurs and one of America’s most confusing success stories began when McNally called Corden “the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago,” posting on Instagram that Corden would no longer be welcome.
McNally’s first accusation states that Corden found hair in his food. After showing the hair to Balthazar’s manager, he demanded that they “Get us another round of drinks this second,“ McNally recalls Corden saying. “And also take care of all of our drinks so far. This way, I [won’t] write any nasty reviews on Yelp or anything like that.” It’s hard to imagine James Corden taking a break from singing in cars with celebrities to write a Yelp review, but the threat is enough.
Manager’s report no. 2 is a little more involved. During one visit, Corden’s wife “ordered an egg yolk omelet with gruyere cheese and salad.” Shortly after the food arrived, Corden called the server to tell her that “there was a little bit of egg white mixed with the egg yolk.” When the kitchen remade the dish, they accidentally 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 omelet myself!’” But as they say, you can’t make an omelet without abusing someone working for tips.
After receiving an apology from Corden by phone, McNally decided what’s a few egg whites between friends. McNally “strongly believes in second chances,” which presumably is why he’s so into posting about Woody Allen, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Jeffrey Epstein. He writes, “Anyone magnanimous enough to apologize to a deadbeat layabout like me (and my staff) doesn’t deserve to be banned from anywhere. Especially Balthazar. So Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Corden, Jimmy Corden. All is Forgiven.”
Ah, the rich and famous. How do they stay so rich and famous?
42 Comments
Sounds like someone…and it could be both of them…needed some publicity. What a fucking unrelatable, dumb, non-story this was.
So the owner of Balthazar cares more about starfucking than his own staff. Noted.
Celebrity chefs (well, chefs in general) tend to be narcissistic assholes themselves, so that checks out. I feel sorry for his staff.
I don’t understand this resolution at all. The owner went nuclear on Corden and called him out publicly, so Corden looks bad (continues to!). But then all it takes is Corden to say “I’m sowwy” and apparently abusive behavior to the staff is forgiven? Why would you want that back? Does Corden have that many devoted fans Balthazar was feeling the heat? Is Balthazar that much of a see and be seen place that Corden was suffering not going there? Nobody came out of this looking good.
McNally now just comes off as petty and bitchy whereas it sounded like he was standing up for his staff when he first put the ban in place. There’s not much to gain by unbanning Corden. If anything, he’s the head on a pike that warns future customers to behave civilly to his staff. Plenty of rich customers out there, but maybe we’re underestimating the number of Corden stans out there.
The answer is that this is a spat between the wealthy bourgeoisie who do not at all view this through the same lens as we do.
This McNally guy sounds pretty flighty and eccentric, about as you’d expect from a gourmet restauranteur in NYC. Like how the tweet forgiving Corden refers to himself as a deadbeat layabout and ends, apropos of nothing, by changing the title of an Altman film to reference Corden. He just seems a strange man and viciously calling someone out then forgiving them within a day or so is probably perfectly normal behavior for him. Hell, maybe the owner’s a drama queen at the restaurant so Corden felt free to be the same when the mood took him.
Way to stick up for your staff—I am sure they are thrilled to be serving Herr Pissy Face.
James Corden, a well-known asshole, was an asshole. This is theoretically news.
Well, this news is really distracting me from finding out more about Olivia Wilde’s salad dressing!
That’s a weird way to refer to Harry Styles.
It was cum. The secret was cum.You’re welcome.
Well, this news is really distracting me from finding out more about Olivia Wilde’s salad dressing!
He’s still banned from my house
Did you make him an omelet?
That post reads like Corden hacked McNally’s account.
I am so relieved that a celebrity known for being an asshole to ordinary people who provide services to him apologized to the celebrity chef for abusing ordinary people providing services to him. That solves everything. I’m glad he didn’t have to stoop to apologizing to the waiter or something.
And in news over here in the UK:A weary nation breathes a sigh of relief as our shittiest export continues to be America’s problem, not ours
I thought that was Russell Brand?
At least Brand went away.
Wut? He’s probably more popular than ever.
But now you have Liz Truss and you still have Piers Morgan.
That post reads like McNally is in an abusive relationship with Jimmy Corden. I hope he finds the help he needs
I have a feeling that James Corden’s next few meals will be filled with boogers and cum.
Of course he’s the sort of prick who orders off-menu.
While that may be true, his next reservation at Balthazar is three weeks away.
Anyone magnanimous enough to apologize to a deadbeat layabout like me (and my staff) doesn’t deserve to be banned from anywhere.What a fucking suck-up. Way to shit on your staff as well there, sport.
James Corden seems like an enormous twat.
Counterpoint, make my food right the first fucking time. It’s literally your job.
I’ve got some news that’s going to blow your tiny little mind!You can let people know they made an error without being a huge asshole. Of course that’s more difficult for people who are huge assholes to begin with. (and here’s your mirror!)
Counterpoint: Keep your fucking hair out of my food, you disgusting cunt.
I bet you have lots of friends. /s
I bet you eat lots of hair because you’re too much of a wuss to complain.
Nah, even if you like ’em hairy it’s just like the dentist tells you: floss after eating.
You realize the server is usually not part of the kitchen staff right
Not to be construed as any justification for abusing them, but, no, Matt, the waitstaff at *Balthazar* is not “working for tips”.
Like Corden is the first entitled dickhead at Balthazar to complain about the food or the service. But hey. It got McNally a lot of free publicity.
I got your egg yolk omelet right here.
the epilogue to this story will be when Corden acts like a sarcastic prick to the staff for the rest of his life. Well done dude.
Thank God. For a moment I thought Carpool Andy Richter would be forced to rub elbows with me in restaurants I could actually afford.
Why. Is. This. News.