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James Corden came clean about how he films “Carpool Karaoke” during Wednesday’s episode of The Late Late Show.
“I’m sure many of you have heard. I’ve recently been the victim of a scandal in the media, and there have been some very, very serious allegations made against me,” Corden began. “I want to get ahead of everything and address those rumors and assure you, my audience, that these accusations are not true.”
After claiming that the rumors were “fake news,” he shared a clip of him and Justin Bieber filming a “Carpool Karaoke” segment. The clip showed that Corden was not driving the car — the SUV was instead being towed by a production truck.
Saw James corden and Justin Bieber filming carpool karaoke and this is why I have trust issues — he isn’t even driving! pic.twitter.com/bkP9moGJmu
— Zoli ?? (@zolihonig) January 23, 2020
“I know this looks bad. But I just want to say right now that I always drive the car unless we’re doing something where we think it might not be safe, like a dance routine or a costume change, you know. Or if I’m drunk,” he said. “But in the case of Justin Bieber, it was a safety issue, where we thought it was best to tow the car. Frankly, I just kept getting lost in his eyes.”
Corden noted that the viral video garnered over 13 million views, which is more than some of his “Carpool Karaoke” segments. He added that the clip caused a “media frenzy” and shared headlines that called him a liar.
“I’m just shocked that I did something that upset people more than Cats,” he said.
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Many people took to Twitter to share their thoughts, including that the clip is why one user doesn’t “trust men.”
“The one that hurt the most was I got called a ‘fucking liar’ and that was by the Twitter user ‘assgaze,'” he said. “There are people I would lie to in this world, but I would never lie to assgaze.”
“I swear to you, 95 percent of the time I really am endangering the lives of the world’s biggest pop stars,” he continued. “But 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. Reggie Watts isn’t actually here. He’s 100 percent CGI.”
Corden said that he “didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news” but admitted that he doesn’t need the segment’s guests to help him get to work. “We’ve also never once, in the history of doing that bit, ever used the carpool lane,” he said. “There’s not even a carpool lane on my way to work.”
“I just thought that we all knew this, and I’m sorry that you are so deep into the reality of ‘Carpool Karaoke,’ but it’s TV and sometimes we do stuff just for the sake of entertainment,” Corden said.
The host added that he wanted credit for driving the car, because he “was raised driving on a completely different side of the road.”
In order to prove that he drove in most of the segments, Corden shared a list of the only ones that used a tow, which included Meghan Trainor, Migos, Cardi B, Chance the Rapper and Bieber’s upcoming third appearance. The host then shared a much longer list of every one in which he didn’t, which totaled almost 50.
Bieber took to Twitter to respond to the segment. While retweeting the clip, he wrote, “Wait… you weren’t driving the car? How could you James? I’m shocked.”
Wait… you weren’t driving the car? How could you James? I’m shocked. https://t.co/YlsfErxtmm
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) January 30, 2020
Watch Corden’s full explanation below.
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