[imagesource: YouTube / CBS]
It’s tough to pinpoint exactly where the internet’s intense hatred of James Corden began.
Years back, he was hugely popular in the UK thanks to Gavin and Stacey, a comedy series which ran from 2007 until early 2010.
He co-created the show, featured in a number of sketches for British charity Comic Relief as Smithy, the character he played, and wasn’t shy of stripping down to his rods alongside David Beckham.
Yeah, that did happen:
The ‘Carpool Karaoke’ segment on The Late Late Show catapulted Corden to global fame and then things started to unravel.
You’re up to speed with all the drama around Corden being rude to restaurant staff, and you’ve already seen the joke he stole from Ricky Gervais during his opening monologue last week.
Gervais, while deleting his initial barbed response to seeing his joke popping up almost word for word on Corden’s show, has been hard at work liking tweets that make it clear where he stands.
BuzzFeed News has the receipts and screenshots of some of those tweets:
You get the drift.
A few more examples of people sticking the boot in:
Look, if you don’t like James Corden’s show, don’t watch it. It’s like going into a town square and seeing a poster that says ‘Guitar Lessons’ and you go “but I don’t want guitar lessons!”
— Rhys James (@rhysjamesy) November 1, 2022
I once stole some of James Corden’s material, I shouted at a waitress and threatened to make my own omelette.
— SadFaceOtter (@SadFaceOtter) November 3, 2022
Stewart Lee on James Corden
pic.twitter.com/4b3bmHPy0V
— Billy Meredith (@BillyMeredithMU) October 29, 2022
Well played.
When the tide of public opinion turns against you, as Ellen DeGeneres can attest, there’s really very little you can do.
Corden’s restaurant rudeness may have sealed the deal but the dislike has been festering for years.
In March, Screen Rant set forth a few reasons why so many people hate Corden:
Critics cite that they don’t buy his “nice guy” image and find him to be rude and fake in interviews and in his show when talking to his guests, where he sometimes interrupts or talks over them, which some viewers find to be very rude…
The Peter Rabbit 2 actor has also been accused of a “constantly needs to sing over” his guests in the fan-favorite segment “Carpool Karaoke”, and others believe he has crossed the fine line between funny and offensive multiple times. There are also numerous accounts on different websites of not-so-nice encounters with Corden in restaurants, events, and even an incident on a plane…
The answer to why people don’t like James Corden, then, is complicated, as some attribute it to the audience not wanting to see actors from across the pond succeed in Hollywood, his comedy being “bland”, having to rely heavily on celebrity cameos rather than on the quality of his comedy, and his off-screen behavior.
I’ll add another reason – because he’s successful.
The tallest trees catch the most wind and all that.
Corden will exit The Late Late Show as host next year. I hope for his sake he had contracts signed and work lined up before the public well and truly turned on him.
[sources:buzzfeed&screenrant]
