Famed restaurateur and Instagram maven Keith McNally has revoked his ban on James Corden from one of his restaurants after the late-night host apologized over allegations of rude behavior toward staff.
“James Corden just called me and apologized profusely,” McNally confirmed, welcoming him back to the restaurant while claiming all is forgiven.
In an Instagram post on Monday, McNally complimented Corden as a “hugely gifted comedian” before ripping into the Brit as “a tiny Cretin of a man” and “the most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago.”
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The French restaurant, located in Manhattan’s trendy SoHo neighborhood, is a hotbed of celebrity sightings, with Vogue editor Anna Wintour and actress Sienna Miller among its regular clientele.
“I don’t often 86 a customer, [but] today I 86’d Corden. It did not make me laugh,” McNally wrote in his post, before detailing two unfortunate outbursts by Corden that were written up by the restaurant’s managers.
In one of the reports, an unnamed manager recounted a time in June when Corden allegedly found a hair in his dish and showed it to another manager, identified only as “G.”
“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,’” the manager wrote.
In another instance dated Oct. 9, Corden allegedly called over a server to complain about his wife’s egg yolk omelet, which was apparently tainted by a bit of egg white. That same day, Corden was in town for The New Yorker Festival, where he had an hour-long chat with writer Rachel Syme.
“The kitchen remade the dish but unfortunately sent it with home fries instead of salad,” the manager shared, according to McNally. “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!’”
Representatives for Corden and McNally did not respond to requests for comment from The Daily Beast.
In a follow-up post Monday night on Instagram, McNally said Corden “just called me and apologized profusely.” McNally said that he had “fucked up myself more than most people” and that he strongly believe in second chances.
He joked: “So if James Corden lets me host his Late Late Show for 9 months, I’ll immediately rescind his ban from Balthazar. No, of course not, he said.”
“But... 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.”
He ended with: “All is Forgiven. xx.”
Back in April, Corden announced that he’ll be stepping down as host of The Late Late Show on CBS next year, adding that he’d been thinking of leaving for “a long time.” The actor and comedian, who appeared in 2019’s Cats and last year’s remake of Cinderella starring Camila Cabello, has hosted the late-night show since 2015.
McNally is the owner of several high-profile restaurants in Manhattan, including Pastis, Morandi, and Minetta Tavern. The restaurateur is known for his off-kilter and brutally honest Instagram account, where he occasionally shares anecdotes from his restaurants as well as his occasionally controversial opinions on current events, including his continued support for friend and frequent restaurant guest Woody Allen.
Last year, McNally banned Graydon Carter from his restaurants after the former Vanity Fair editor made a reservation for 12 people at Morandi but didn’t show up, even after extra staff was called in to help with service.
“I’ll tell you one thing,” McNally wrote on Instagram at the time. “That fancy fucker will never be allowed to make a reservation at one of my restaurants again. Never.”
Carter later called McNally’s post “deranged” in an interview with People.
