Hate is a strong word. James Corden isn’t a criminal, and he hasn’t faced the kind of career-ending controversies that usually sink a star. Yet, his standing in the eyes of the public has dropped tangibly over the last decade.
James Corden‘s shift from the quirky and beloved co-creator of Gavin & Stacey to a frequently cited “most disliked” celebrity is a fascinating study in brand erosion. So, what happened? Let’s try and break it down.
The Reputational Damage of James Corden Started in the UK
Not long after he turned into an overnight sensation in the UK with Gavin & Stacey, James Corden managed to ruffle some feathers. When his hit sitcom won the Audience Award, while on stage accepting the trophy, Corden publicly berated the BAFTA judges and questioned why the show hadn’t also been nominated for Best Scripted Comedy. His awkward rant stunned the audience, resulting in painfully dead air silence. While he later expressed immense regret in his 2011 memoir, May I Have Your Attention, Please?, admitting he let his ego get the better of him, the damage had been done for many.
For those that did forgive his cocksure words, many then turned on him when he left for Hollywood to host The Late Late Show. Some fans felt he abandoned his humble roots in the UK to become a “Hollywood elite”. Shortly after, rumors began to swirl of him being rude to staff, feeling like proof of the transformation many fans accused him of.
The Balthazar Incident
After permanently relocating to the Los Angeles in 2015, the whispers of James Corden’s rude behaviour extended from the UK to the US. In 2019, Corden and his producers hosted a Reddit: Ask Me Anything to promote a Carpool Karaoke special, and it was a complete disaster. Near enough every question was from someone claiming to have had a rude encounter with him or accusing him of “diva” behavior.
That so-called “diva” behaviour was showcased in 2022 when Corden was banned from from the popular New York City restaurant, Balthazar. Owner Keith McNally called Corden a “tiny cretin of a man” and the “most abusive customer” in the restaurant’s 25-year history. This reportedly came about because Corden allegedly yelled at staff members over an omelette that had a bit of egg white in it when his wife had asked for egg yolk only.
Before addressing it at beginning segment of an episode of The Late Late Show, Corden briefly downplayed the situation during a scheduled interview with The New York Times. He dismissed the viral internet frenzy as “silly” and insisted he “had done nothing wrong”. However, following McNally’s call-out Instagram post, Corden reportedly called him to offer his apologies. McNally immediately rescinded the ban.
The Joke Theft
The tension between James Corden and Ricky Gervais traces back to Corden’s BBC sketch show with Mathew Horne, Horne & Corden. A recurring segment in the show sees Corden spoof Gervais’s breakout character, David Brent. The sketch placed “David Brent” as a bumbling officer in a World War I trench, with Corden heavily mimicking Gervais’s trademark nervous tics, quick-fire delivery, and distinct laugh. But outside of the spoof, Corden also faced industry criticism for seemingly adopting Gervais’s public persona as he rose to fame.
The feud met a fever pitch in 2017 when Gervais roasted Corden at the Golden Globes, calling him a “fat p***y” and trashing the critically-panned movie he starred in that year, Cats. Fast forward five years and many believe Corden pulled a stunt to get his own back. However, it backfired.
Commenting on Elon Musk‘s takeover of Twitter (now X), Corden argued that Twitter isn’t a “town square” because if a person puts up a poster for guitar lessons in a real town square, passersby don’t yell, “I don’t want to play the guitar! I want to play the piano, you piece of s***.” The joke was an almost word-for-word lift of a highly famous bit from Gervais’s 2018 Netflix stand-up special, Humanity. Gervais quickly took to Twitter to re-post the clip, however, he deleted it soon after, stating that there was “no way” Corden knowingly stole it. Instead, Gervais assumed one of Corden’s late-night staff writers had plagiarized the bit and pitched it to Corden without telling him it was stolen material. But once again, Corden’s reputation took a major blow.
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