William Farrington
Balthazar owner Keith McNally joked on Monday that one-time nemesis and former “The Late Late Show” host James Corden was to blame for a caught-on-camera tussle at his ritzy Manhattan restaurant between staff and a crazed man who threatened customers.
Footage captured by witnesses showed several Balthazar workers struggling with an individual Saturday afternoon as patrons seated outside the Soho hotspot were treated to dinner and a show that ended with the suspect in handcuffs.
At one point, the unruly man was fighting restaurant workers even as he was down on the ground.
When the suspect got to his feet, he wrestled with at least a couple of male employees as some diners scurried away.
The man was then pushed away, but came back for seconds as the scuffle continued down the block away from the French restaurant. Additional footage posted on TikTok shows the man eventually sitting on the curb handcuffed behind his back.
McNally on Monday cheekily claimed Corden was behind the fisticuffs, two years after the pair first got into a spat.
“There was a huge fight outside Balthazar Saturday night after a customer voiced support for James Corden,” he quipped on Instagram while posting a screenshot of the confrontation.
McNally instituted a short-lived ban on Corden from his high-profile restaurant on Spring Street in May 2022 after ex-television host was accused of mistreating Balthazar servers.
During his rant on Instagram about Corden, he called the funnyman a “tiny cretin of a man.” But McNally lifted the ban after he said Corden called him to apologize.
Corden at first denied any wrongdoing before he fessed up to being rude to restaurant staff during his show.
Authorities said Monday a harassment report was filed after a man allegedly burst into the restaurant and threatened diners. No charges were filed in the case.
Officers used a Taser as they escorted the man away from the restaurant, law enforcement sources told The Post. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment.
A worker at Balthazar referred The Post to McNally’s Instagram post. Attempts to reach McNally were unsuccessful Monday night.