James Corden swears he left CBS on his own accord!
The famed "Carpool Karaoke" creator recently made a guest appearance on Jimmy Kimmel's late night talk show, where he promoted his new podcast, "This Life of Mine," while reflecting on his longtime run as a fellow late-night talk show host on The Late Late Show from 2015-2023.
Corden, who headed back to the U.K. after retiring from the gig in April of last year, revealed to Kimmel how fans across the pond don't buy that the 45-year-old voluntarily gave up his famed position, and are convinced he was forced to leave for an undisclosed reason.
"People are very nice. But no one believes that I wasn’t fired," Corden quipped, as he insisted he wanted to leave America and move back home so his three young children — whom he shares with wife Julia Carey — could form a better bond with their British grandparents.
He continued: "People will honestly be like, ‘You don’t have to give me that bulls---. It’s fine, mate. If you got fired, you got fired."
"Because nobody thinks you would ever leave what is — let’s be honest — a cushy existence," he comedically confessed.
Brainstorming ideas of how Corden could convince fans otherwise, Kimmel suggested: "Can’t you get a letter from CBS saying that you were not fired, that you left of your own free will?"
"I would except they don’t know what CBS is," Corden jokingly noted, prompting Kimmel to reply, "it sounds like you should just come back because you left and you know what? They don’t accept you anymore."
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Aside from those in the U.K. thinking he left hosting his late-night show on bad terms, Corden also opened up about how it has felt for him to leave a gig he had for so many years.
"You don’t understand how institutionalized you are. It’s like you’re institutionalized in a world where you get a standing ovation every day. I realized it’s really bad for you," he teased.
The final episode of The Late Late Show aired in April 2023, and wrapped up with special messages from celebrities and public figures — including Harry Styles, who made a surprise in-person appearance, and President Joe Biden, who thanked Corden for his contribution to American television via video.
The late-night program ended altogether, rather than CBS finding a replacement host, however, the time slot is newly occupied by @midnight, a late night show produced by Stephen Colbert and hosted by Taylor Tomlinson.
