James Corden has responded to claims that Carpool Karaoke is faked and insisted he is at the wheel “95%” of the time.
The British host of The Late Late Show was reacting to a viral video shared online showing Justin Bieber’s appearance on the popular segment.
Fans were shocked to see Corden and Bieber being towed along by a rig, rather than driving themselves.
The video led to allegations that the show is faked. However, Corden has denied the claims.
Opening Wednesday’s episode of The Late Late Show, the Gavin & Stacey creator conceded “this looks bad” but decried “fake news”.
He insisted he always drives the car unless there is a safety issue.
Corden also joked about his box office flop Cats while poking fun at the media reaction to the video.
After reading headlines about the controversy, he said: “I’m just shocked I’ve done something that upset people more than Cats.”
Corden, who has hosted The Late Late Show since 2015, added: “95% of the time I really am endangering the lives of the world’s biggest pop stars. But this is a TV show, not everything is real.
“Our show doesn’t tape after midnight – we tape at 5pm and pretend that it’s late.”
Continuing his opening monologue, Corden, who often begins Carpool Karaoke by asking the celebrity guest to help him get to work, admitted that too is not true, saying: “Often, I’m at work already.”
“I just thought we all knew this and I’m sorry that you were so deep into the reality of Carpool Karaoke,” he said.
“But it’s TV and sometimes we do stuff just for the sake of entertainment. But when it comes to Carpool, with very rare exceptions for safety, I’m driving the car.
“And I want credit for it. Because I was raised driving on a completely different side of the road.”
For complete transparency, Corden then revealed the Carpool Karaoke episodes he has used a tow truck in.
Meghan Trainor, Migos, Cardi B, Chance The Rapper and Bieber have all been towed along, the host said.
Carpool Karaoke has been a viral sensation and has seen stars including Adele, Celine Dion and Sir Paul McCartney join Corden in a car to sing a string of their hits.
The Late Late Show segment has been such a success it has been made into its own show on AppleTV.
Additional reporting by PA
