New York City restaurant owner Keith McNally reversed course on Monday evening, saying he would lift the lifetime ban on comedian James Corden after he “apologized profusely” for rude and abusive behavior.
McNally announced earlier that day that he had to “86” Corden, providing two examples that he said were proof the “Late Late Show” host was among the “most abusive” customers he had ever served at the iconic French brasserie Balthazar in SoHo. But following Corden’s apology, McNally took to Instagram to rescind the ban — on one condition.
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“James Corden just called me and apologized profusely. Having f***ed up myself more than most people, I strongly believe in second chances,” McNally began, adding, “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,” McNally said then, making it clear that he was kidding. “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, Jimmy Corden. All is Forgiven. xx.”
McNally’s previous post, just hours earlier, described two scenes that he said were caused by the comedian. In one instance, he had complained after reportedly finding a hair in his food, demanding that the restaurant comp his meal and drinks and threatening to write a bad review if they failed to do so.
“After eating his main course, Corden showed the hair to Balthazar manager G, who was very apologetic. 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.'”
McNally included another example of similar behavior, adding, “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,” McNally said, adding, “I don’t often 86 a customer, to today I 86’d Corden. It did not make me laugh.”
Katie Jerkovich contributed to this report.