James Corden is removing several food items from the ‘Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts’ segment of his talk show after being accused of cultural insensitivity.
The ‘Late Late Show’ host has confirmed he’s adjusting the popular segment, which sees celebrities forced to choose between answering a tough question – which usually unveils information about their personal lives – or eating food seen as unusual or unpalatable.
James will no longer be serving food items including century old eggs or chicken feet to his guests, after TikTok user Kim Saira pointed out they are “often regularly eaten by Asian people” and are not “disgusting” foods.
In her Change.org petition – which has garnered 45,000 signatures and counting – Saira wrote: “The foods that are presented are meant to be ‘gross,’ as they are supposed to encourage the guest to answer his questions instead. However, many of the foods that he presents to his guests are actually from different Asian cultures. He’s presented foods such as balut, century old eggs, and chicken feet, and which are often regularly eaten by Asian people.
“He’s openly called these foods ‘really disgusting,’ and ‘horrific.’ ”
The online star requested the show either scrap the segment or “completely change the food presented on his show to something else”, which James has now agreed to do.
Speaking in an interview with Howard Stern, James said: “We heard that story, and the next time we do that bit we absolutely won’t involve or use any of those foods.
“As you said at the start, our show is a show about joy and light and love, we don’t want to make a show to upset anybody.”
James then gave an example of how the food menu has changed, as he’ll now try to scare his guests with snacks that will ruin their diets, such as a pizza with cheeseburgers on top.
