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Embattled James Corden issues groveling apology for using Ricky Gervais joke on 'The Late Late Show'

In a recent episode of 'The Late Late Show', James Corden went on to tell a joke that many pointed out was almost a 'word-for-word' copy of one of Ricky Gervais' jokes

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Comedian-host James Corden has landed in another controversy after being slammed and temporarily banned for alleged rude misconduct in Balthazar restaurant over omelet drama. He has been accused of plagiarizing a joke, originally told by Ricky Gervais in his 2018 Netflix stand-up special ‘Humanity’, during an episode of ‘The Late Late Show’ on CBS. However, Corden has addressed the allegations and admitted he had “inadvertently” told the joke.

On the episode that aired on October 31, Corden started the late-night talk show by discussing Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. He went on to tell a joke that many pointed out was almost "word for word" copy of one of Gervais' jokes. Corden during the show said, “When you see Elon Musk talk about Twitter, he does this thing where he goes, ‘It’s the town square.’ But it isn’t, because if someone puts up a poster in a town square that says ‘guitar lessons available,’ you don’t get people in the town going: ‘I don’t wanna play the guitar!’ But that sign wasn’t for you, it was for somebody else — you don’t have to get mad about all of it.”

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Following this, netizens started accusing Corden of plagiarism and tagged Gervais while sharing a clip of the 61-year-old comedian telling a similar joke. Gervais said in his 2018 special, “That’s like going into a town square, seeing a big notice board, and there’s a notice ― ‘Guitar lessons’ ― and you go, ‘But I don’t fucking want guitar lessons!’ Fine! It’s not for you, then. Just walk away, don’t worry about it.”

Reacting to the tags, Gervais too called out Corden and wrote, which he later deleted, “The bit about the town square advert for guitar lessons is brilliant," reports The Hollywood Reporter. He then responded to a fan who asked, “Didn’t deliver it like you though. I assume he asked to use that joke?” to which Gervais responded by saying, “No. I reckon one of the writers ‘came up with it’ for him. I doubt he would knowingly just copy such a famous stand up routine word for word like that.” After a few hours, Corden took to Twitter while admitting the accusations and wrote, "Inadvertently told a brilliant Ricky Gervais joke on the show last night, obviously not knowing it came from him. It’s brilliant, because it’s a Ricky Gervais joke. You can watch all Ricky’s excellent specials on Netflix."

However, the criticism continued. One user pointed out with a doubtful emoji, "Inadvertently line for line." Another said, "Stop stealing s**t. Question! Do you really think ppl are that dumb?? Not knowing?? You could just admit someone wrote it for you and you read it." An individual wrote, “Inadvertently” If you weren’t writing your own jokes, you would, at least, check ones you’re being paid vast sums of money to tell hadn’t already been seen by X million people already, wouldn’t you?"

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