In a tongue-in-cheek video, Late Late Show host James Corden has responded to the “very, very serious allegations” that he does not actually drive the car during the TV show’s infamous Carpool Karaoke segment.
The accusations began on Jan. 22 after a fan spotted Corden filming a new episode of Carpool Karaoke with Justin Bieber and shared video to Twitter.
Rather than being on the road, the show’s black SUV was captured being towed by a tow truck as the 41-year-old appeared to be pretending to drive it.
The since-viral video led to mass outrage — or a “scandal,” in Corden’s words — on social media, with many pointing their fingers in anger towards the host for “deceiving” them for years, with others labelling him a “phony.”
“I want to get ahead of everything and address those rumours and assure you, my audience, that these accusations are not true,” said Corden.
“Fake news,” he claimed. “I always drive the car, unless we’re doing something where we think it might not be safe.”
Before going off on a lighthearted five-minute rant against the naysayers, Corden shared the video that sparked the backlash with his audience.
“I know this looks bad,” Corden said of the 14-second clip, “but I just want to say right now that I always drive the car.”
He did, however, admit that the car has been towed on rare occasions where he and his celebrity guest would engage in a “dance routine or costume change” during filming. “Or if I’m drunk,” he quipped.
Later on, the Gavin & Stacey star was candid with his fans and revealed exactly which five stars he “used a tow” with while filming Carpool Karaoke.
As well as Bieber’s third and most recent episode, Corden claims he didn’t drive when filming episodes with Meghan Trainor, Migos, Cardi B and Chance the Rapper.
For Bieber, 25, Corden joked that the “safety issue” was that he “kept getting lost in his eyes.”
The Yummy singer responded to Corden early Thursday morning via Twitter.
“Wait… you weren’t driving the car? How could you James? I’m shocked,” joked Bieber.
“I swear to you, 95 per cent of the time, I really am endangering the lives of the world’s biggest pop stars,” continued Corden in the bit. “This is a TV show — not everything is real. Our show doesn’t tape after midnight, we tape at 5 p.m. and pretend that it’s late.”
“I’m just shocked that I’ve done something that upset people more than Cats,” added the host, poking fun at the box office flop he starred in only one month prior.
Corden played on with the joke, opting to be more honest with his passionate viewers about Carpool Karaoke.
“We’ve also, never once, in the history of doing that bit, ever used the carpool lane,” he added. “There’s not even a carpool lane on my way to work, and I just thought that we all knew this.
“I’m sorry that you were so deep into the reality of Carpool Karaoke, but it’s TV and sometimes we do stuff just for the sake of entertainment.”
“When it comes to Carpool, with very rare exceptions for safety, I’m driving the car and I want credit for it, because I was raised driving on a completely different side of the road.”
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