James Corden says he, 'inadvertently,' told a Ricky Gervais joke
After facing serious backlash online for using a Ricky Gervais joke on his late night chat show, James Corden has released a statement addressing the situation.
He said he, 'inadvertently,' told the joke before encouraging his followers to check out Ricky's Netflix specials.
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In his opening monologue, James addressed Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover.
He said, "When you see Elon Musk talk about Twitter he does this thing where he goes, 'Well, 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 want to play the guitar! I want to play the piano, you piece of sh*t!'"
"Well that sign wasn’t for you, it was for someone else. You don’t have to get mad about all of it!"
Fans were quick to point out the similarities between this joke, and one told by Ricky Gervais in his 2018 show Humanity.
Watch the below clip for reference:
Plagiarism? I don’t know what people are talking about, these two jokes by @JKCorden and @rickygervais are barely similar pic.twitter.com/9kYOHiOiLj
— Paul Anthony (@PaulFI9) November 1, 2022
After seeing the monologue, in a since deleted tweet, Ricky said, 'The bit about the town square advert for guitar lessons is brilliant.'
However, he was quick to jump to James' defense when a Twitter user asked if James had asked permission to use his joke.
Ricky replied, '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.'
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.
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) November 1, 2022
James has since responded to the backlash with a tweet that reads, '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.'
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. J x
— The Late Late Show with James Corden (@latelateshow) November 1, 2022
'You can watch all Ricky’s excellent specials on Netflix. J x,' he concluded.
