NYC restaurant lifts ban on James Corden over alleged 'abusive' behavior

Late night host James Corden was temporarily banned from a popular New York City restaurant for allegedly being abusive toward the staff.

Restaurateur Keith McNally revealed Monday on Instagram he had banned Corden from Balthazar, in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood, for allegedly being the "most abusive customer to my Balthazar servers since the restaurant opened 25 years ago."

Labeling the Late Late Show host a "tiny Cretin of a man," McNally described two alleged incidents at the restaurant. In the first one in June 2022, Corden was allegedly "extremely nasty" when he found a hair in his food "after eating his main course," saying, "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."

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In the other incident on Oct. 9, Corden allegedly complained about there being a "little bit of egg white mixed with the egg yolk" at brunch, and when he received his remade dish with fries instead of a salad, McNally claims the comedian yelled "like crazy" at his server, saying, "You can't do your job! You can't do your job! Maybe I should go into the kitchen and cook the omelette myself."

Hours after McNally's post went viral, though, he said Corden called him and "apologized profusely," leading the restaurant to lift its ban.

"I strongly believe in second chances," McNally said, adding, "Anyone magnanimous enough to apologize to a deadbeat layabout like me (and my staff) doesn't deserve to be banned from anywhere ... All is Forgiven." Corden didn't publicly comment on McNally's claims.