CBS’s Late Late Show host James Corden doesn’t want to lecture you Americans. As a Brit, he knows that “I didn’t grow up in America.” Yet, he does want you to know that Donald Trump is just trying to cater to “white Christians.” Appearing on CBS This Morning, Tuesday, the entertainer began with humility. Given the fact that he’s from England, Corden noted, “ I think it would be foolish to feel like I can speak to parts of America that I've never even been to.”
He added that “I'm always very conscious of the fact that I didn't grow up in America.” However, a few seconds later, the lecturing started, “When the President proposed that ban, I think it hit everybody in our office quite hard. And we thought well freedom of travel should be simple for every legal immigrant not just the white and Christian ones.”
Yet, Corden seemed to realize how the hectoring comes across. Doing the interview from London, he admitted:
If an American comedian came over here and started talking to me about the general election, I'd be, "What do you know? You didn't grow up here. How do you know how people are struggling in Liverpool." You know?
Of course, one should take the host’s protestations with some skepticism. In August of 2016, he sung a song with liberal actor Denis Leary entitled “Trump’s an Asshole.”
A transcript of the exchange is below:
CBS This Morning
6/6/17
8:48am ETJONATHAN VIGLIOTTI: But he’s also taken a serious approach to the recent terror attacks in his home country.
JAMES CORDEN: And I”m telling you, a more tight knit group of people, you will be hard-pressed to find.
VIGLIOTTI: Corden and his team had to rethink of tonight's episode in light of the most recent attack in London.
CORDEN: [Clip from show] In other Trump news in an interview with the Economist Donald Trump —
VIGLIOTTI: How do you find that balance?
CORDEN: I think we balance it as well as we can. I'm always very conscious of the fact that I didn't grow up in America. I'm from a tiny town called High Wycombe, which is about 40 minutes that way. And so it would be, I think it would be foolish to feel like I can speak to parts of America that I've never even been to.
VIGLIOTTI: You did a great video when you were traveling here to London where you saw the process how easy it was for you, this was just after the proposed Muslim ban.
CORDEN: Yeah. Look I don't consider our show to be not political. I just don't think we can dedicate our whole show to that. I know where my strengths lie. I'm a 38-year-old British guy that lived in America for 27 months. When the President proposed that ban, I think it hit everybody in our office quite hard. And we thought well freedom of travel should be simple for every legal immigrant not just the white and Christian ones.
And that's what we wanted to say. So we don't shy away from it just conscious that I don't know we've earned the right to talk to people. If an American comedian came over here and started talking to me about the general election, I’d be, “What do you know? You didn't grow up here. How do you know how people are struggling in Liverpool.” You know?
