James Corden caused quite a stir online back in late January (Awww...remember January?) when someone caught him taping a Carpool Karaoke segment with Justin Bieber on camera, and it was revealed that The Late Late Show host wasn't actually driving. Instead, the vehicle they were in was being towed by another car, so it would give the appearance that Corden was truly manning the SUV as he and Bieber sang along to some of the pop star's hits. Well, we now have a full explanation for why Corden didn't drive for that particular taping.
While it seems a bit silly (especially now) that people were upset at finding out that James Corden wasn't driving Justin Bieber around Los Angeles, many fans really, really were disappointed and took to Twitter to let everyone know it. Corden came out a few days later and noted that while he usually does drive (totally and for real) during tapings of the Carpool Karaoke segment, there have been some instances where it was deemed unsafe, so the car is towed, just like in this Bieber case.
James Corden was a guest on The Ellen Degeneres Show recently, and spoke about that now infamous incident, and if you were one of the Late Late Show fans who was pissed at Corden for not driving, you might feel a teensy bit bad about it now. Here's what he had to say:
We were being towed by a truck and people said that it was a disgrace that I didn't really drive. Well, the reason I didn't drive that day was because my eye was really hurting and we were worried that it wouldn't be safe.
See? The man was in pain, you guys. Plus, it wasn't just regular pain, but literal eyeball pain. The kind that would possibly make it very difficult to drive safely. Clearly, the best decision really was to have James Corden mimic driving while their vehicle was being towed. I mean, close enough, right?
You might be wondering why James Corden was dealing with eye pain during his Carpool Karaoke taping with Justin Bieber, and he did explain that as well. Fans will know that, at the end of April, Corden had to forgo filming The Late Late Show remotely for a few days after having surgery on his eye. As Corden explained it on Ellen, this was actually an old injury from a play the sometime actor did a few years ago, where he hurt his eye during a performance.
After seeing a doctor when the eye injury first occurred, and successfully getting it to clear up, the issue became inflamed again about a year ago. This "little scratch on my eyeball," as Corden called it, led to him seeing doctors a lot over the past year, and by the time his Carpool Karaoke with Justin Bieber came around, the injury was causing enough difficulty for Corden that it was decided he probably couldn't drive them around as safely as necessary.
James Corden went on to say that when he woke up one morning last month and couldn't open his eye, he called his doctor, who got him in immediately, and told him he'd need surgery that day. You can watch Corden discuss his whole eyeball ordeal, below:
Man. I'm just glad that James Corden seems to be completely OK now. Aren't you? Yeah...I know you are! While it will, obviously, be a while before we'll get to see any new Carpool Karaoke videos, at least we know now that Corden is usually driving, and when he isn't there's a very good reason.
You can keep up with The Late Late Show with James Corden weeknights at 12:37 a.m., and on CBS All Access. For more on what to watch in the meantime, be sure to check out our 2020 Netflix guide and see what's coming to TV this summer.
