James Corden has brushed off Lily Allen‘s savage remark that he was desperate for friendship with her, according to sources who have claimed the former late night host branded the singer’s podcast comments ‘tacky.’
Corden, who is back in the UK after living in the United States for the better part of a decade, was recently branded a ‘beg friend’ by the British singer as she recalled their first meeting.
Allen, 39, made the comment while hosting her Miss Me? podcast alongside childhood best friend and fellow ‘nepo baby‘ Miquita Oliver.
The comments came after Corden, 45, has been dogged by accusations of bad manners, rude backstage behavior and for putting on a fake ‘good guy’ persona to the public.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, an insider revealed that Gavin & Stacey star believes Allen was ‘a bit of a t**t to have said anything at all.’
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James Corden has brushed off Lily Allen’s savage claim that he was desperate for friendship with her, sources tell DailyMail.com
‘James gets a bunch of heat on how he treats people over and over again and is a very polarizing person,’ the source said. ‘He is a bit like Ellen DeGeneres nowadays, you either like him or you don’t, nothing in between.
‘So, when Lily recently talked s**t about him, to James it was just another day in his life, just another hater.’
They continued: ‘He thought for Lily to bring up their past was tacky and that she was a bit of a t**t to have said anything at all.
‘He believes he has never been desperate and deserves better and is pretty much over people talking about him in a negative way. But the only way that will change is when he starts to change.’
The insider added that the former The Late Late Show host still doesn’t understand why so many people have spoken out against him in recent years.
‘James doesn’t get why he upsets so many people because he is just being himself,’ the source added. ‘But being himself is a little delusional and actually the problem is he is always about himself and if you don’t befriend him, or side with him, he makes you feel that it is your fault.’
The source noted that the TV star would need to take time to reflect if he wants to avoid any future feuds.
‘It is a respect thing, and it is a two-way street that James doesn’t always adhere to, so this will continue to happen until he changes his own attitude and approach,’ they said.
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On her podcast, Miss Me?, Allen, 39, said: ‘Yeah, James Corden was a bit of a beg friend for me…’
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The Smile singer said she met the Gavin and Stacey actor on her chat show in 2008, where he was ‘very flirtatious’ with her (seen on the show)
Lily Allen and James Corden share risque banter on live TV in 2008
Corden’s spat with Allen is the latest in a long line of allegations about his diva-like behavior in recent years.
Last year he was sensationally barred from Balthazar restaurant in New York after its owner, Keith McNally, claimed the divisive TV host had been ‘extremely nasty’ to staff on two separate occasions.
Despite initially dismissing the drama as ‘silly,’ Corden later apologized.
‘I made a rude comment, and it was wrong,’ he said. ‘It was an unnecessary comment. It was ungracious to the server.’
What did James Corden write about Lily Allen in his book?
James wrote in his memoir in 2011 of Lily: ‘She’s confident, funny and intelligent. I guess I went out with Lily four or five times in total – and not once was it a proper date.
‘It always seemed to involve other people and not just the two of us.’
He wrote that the ‘reality dawned’ on him when he was hanging out with Lily at her home with a couple of her friends.
Lily apparently then said she was going to bed, so Corden accompanied her upstairs, where she showed him into the guest bedroom and told him goodnight.
‘Never have I felt such a douchebag,’ he wrote. ‘Who was I trying to kid? I remember lying in bed and realising how badly I’d misread the signs. There was no me and Lily, it was all in my mind.’
Six months later, director Craig Duncan – who worked with Corden on a British gameshow in 2013 – fanned the flames by launching a particularly personal attack on the comedian.
Duncan called him the ‘most difficult and obnoxious presenter’ he has ever worked with. Corden, he claimed, swore at staff on set and called Duncan ‘stupid.’
‘I hope I never, ever work with [Corden] again,’ Duncan added.
Meanwhile, during her time on Celebrity Big Brother back in March, Sharon Osbourne labelled Corden ‘a name dropper.’
‘I’ll tell you who does that, James Corden. He does that all the time,’ she said.
The reality star claimed Corden liked to tell people what designer clothes he owns and she also thought he ‘played the L.A. game’ when he left the UK for Hollywood.
She said: ‘I go to him, “I really like your shoes,” and he goes, “Yeah, Stella McCartney.” I’m like, I didn’t ask you who made them, I just said I like your shoes. He played the L.A. game really well.’
Allen set tongues wagging last month when she claimed Corden was a ‘beg friend’ after he accused her of leading him on when she ‘definitely wasn’t.’
The Smile singer claimed he had been ‘very flirtatious’ with her on her Lily Allen and Friends chat show in 2008 and explained that they hung out for a ‘hazy’ short period of time afterwards.
According to the musician, Corden misread the signs and wrote in his book that she led him on.
‘Yeah, James Corden was a bit of a beg friend for me,’ she stated. ‘James Corden came on my chat show and was like very flirtatious with me and we sort of made friends and I introduced him to a group of my friends.’
A ‘beg friend’ is described as a person who ‘begs’ for your attention in the hope of forming a friendship.
The mother of two continued: ‘I believe that he wrote about it in his book that, you know, that I was like leading him on or something – which I definitely wasn’t.
‘I think in his mind, maybe it went on a bit longer.
‘But yeah, I’d say if I ever had a famous beggy friend, it was James Corden back in the day.’
Allen added: ‘He’s not begging me anymore. I’m not begging him either. I can’t do anything for him now, he’s good.’
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The insider added: ‘He believes he has never been desperate and deserves better and is pretty much over people talking about him in a negative way’
Corden wrote of Allen in his 2011 memoir: ‘She’s confident, funny and intelligent. I guess I went out with Lily four or five times in total – and not once was it a proper date.
‘It always seemed to involve other people and not just the two of us.’
He wrote that the ‘reality dawned’ on him when he was hanging out with Allen at her home with a couple of her friends.
Allen apparently then said she was going to bed, so Corden accompanied her upstairs, where she showed him into the guest bedroom and told him goodnight.
‘Never have I felt such a douchebag,’ he wrote. ‘Who was I trying to kid? I remember lying in bed and realizing how badly I’d misread the signs. There was no me and Lily, it was all in my mind.’
Allen has previously said she felt as though Corden ‘came onto her’ during the TV interview on her BBC Three talk show.
In the episode, Corden said to Allen: ‘Listen, ignore all those people over there, right, and I don’t know you…’
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Allen has previously said she felt as though Corden ‘came onto her’ during a TV interview on her BBC Three talk show
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In 2017 Allen claimed she wasn’t able to ‘shut him down’ in the past because she would have been branded ‘cold’ or ‘snobbish’
Allen then interrupted him, and joked: ‘Just f**k me … no, no,’ which resulted in the audience erupting in laughter and applause.
She then said: ‘Thank you very much … that’s how you get into a girl’s pants. Well done, well done, James. Are you single at the moment?’
He replied: ‘Complicated … no I am, yeah.’
In 2017 Allen claimed she wasn’t able to ‘shut him down’ at the time because she would have been branded ‘cold’ or ‘snobbish.’
When someone tweeted her claiming she was ‘horny for James Corden’ alongside a link to the episode he appeared on, she replied: ‘No, I wasn’t horny for James cordon either.
‘He came on to me in front of a studio audience. If I’d have shut him down, I would have been labeled cold or up myself or snobbish [sic].’