James Corden addresses BTS fan backlash over Late Late Show jokes: ‘Someone told me they hope I die today’

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James Corden has addressed the backlash he received from fans of the Korean pop group BTS earlier this year.

The Late Late Show host was criticised by members of Army (the collective term for BTS fans) in September over comments he made on his late night chat show.

Alluding to the band’s appearance at a UN summit, Corden described the band as “pretty unusual visitors”, before characterising BTS’s fanbase as being comprised of “15-year-old girls”.

Speaking to the band themselves on last night’s (23 November) episode of The Late Late Show, Corden discussed the backlash and walked back the latter remark.

“We did two jokes, which I didn’t think were in any way offensive to anybody,” he said.

He then conceded that his comment about the fanbase being solely 15-year-old girls “of course isn’t true”, claiming that he himself is “one of the biggest BTS fans on planet Earth”.

“I’ve never been on that side of the Army before,” he said.

Recalling his reaction at the time, Corden remembered telling his co-star: “Someone’s just told me they hope I die today.”

“Which did feel extreme,” he said, “In response to what I felt were two quite harmless jokes.”

However, Corden then flagged up the charity work carried out by some of BTS’s fans, emphasising: “We absolutely love you, and we love the entire Army. “The prospect of doing anything that may have upset them... I didn’t enjoy that feeling.”

The band took the incident in good humour, joking that they had accepted Corden’s apology.