James Corden Changes 'Late Late Show' Segment After Complaints Of Denigrating Asian Foods

James Corden has responded to complaints about a perceived anti-Asian bias in the “Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts” segment of his late-night talk show by announcing a change to its format, although he did not apologize for offending Asian viewers who accused him of insulting their traditional foods.

What Happened: According to a Deadline report, Corden went on Howard Stern’s talk show on Sirius XM Holdings Inc SIRI to announce the change to the format, which took a “truth or dare” approach to forcing celebrities to either reveal an embarrassing secret or consume a food item that was presented as unappetizing or worse. Much of the food in the segment is unique to Asian cultures, such as Japanese cod sperm and Chinese bird saliva. 

“We heard that story,” said the British comic regarding the petition drive that was coordinated to protest the segment. “And the next time we do that bit, we absolutely won’t involve or use any of those foods.”

He added the focus would now shift to more obesity-inducing meals, recalling how “when we played it with Anna Wintour, we gave her a pizza covered in cheeseburgers.”

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Why It Happened: Corden did not apologize for offending Asian viewers who complained about his unflattering remarks about their traditional foods, insisting that his “Late Late Show” was “a show about joy and light and love — we don’t want to make a show to upset anybody.”

Complaints about the segment have percolated over the years on social media and blogs, but never made any impact with Corden’s production team.

The issue gained new attention earlier this month when 24-year-old California-based artist Kim Saira posted a TikTok video expressing disappointment in Corden’s use of traditional Asian cuisines as a punishment tool.

"I noticed that one of the foods that he presented to someone was balut — a fertilized duck egg that is boiled and eaten from the shell — and balut is like, very specific to Filipino culture," she said in an interview on the Today show. "It's a food that I have been eating whenever I go to the Philippines with my grandma and my cousins, so it's a very sentimental food to me, and I noticed that he was presenting it to a guest and calling it gross.

"I was just so confused and I feel like it was a moment of me just being like, 'Oh my gosh, like, this is my culture'," she added. "I don't understand why he's making fun of it?"

“The Late, Late Show” is produced and broadcast by CBS, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS VIAC.

Photo: Andy Thorney /Flickr Creative Commons.