James Corden Plans ‘Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts’ Change After Accusations of Cultural Insensitivity
Amid the rise of anti-Asian rhetoric, harassment and violence, the “Late Late Show” segment came under fire for treating some traditionally Asian dishes as “gross.”
It’s one of the most popular recurring segments on James Corden’s “The Late Late Show,” but “Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts” just isn’t sitting well with many people.
In the segment, Corden’s celebrity guests sit in front of a wheel of dishes described as horrible and disgusting. They must choose between answering an uncomfortable or revealing question or sampling the dish in front of them.
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With anti-Asian rhetoric, harassment and violence on the rise, some found themselves taking a second look at this segment, which often features traditional Asian foods and delicacies among its so-called “gross” offerings.
TikTok user Kim Saira raised awareness of the issue first with a post on the social media platform — which has over 2.8 million views as of this writing — and then a petition on Change.org calling for CBS and the show to remove the segment altogether. It currently has just shy of 45,000 signatures.
“The foods that are presented are meant to be ‘gross,’ as they are supposed to encourage the guest to answer his questions instead,” she wrote in her petition. “However, many of the foods that he presents to his guests are actually from different Asian cultures. He’s presented foods such as balut, century old eggs, and chicken feet, and which are often regularly eaten by Asian people.”
She continued to emphasize, “He’s openly called these foods ‘really disgusting,’ and ‘horrific.’ While the title of her petition calls for the segment to be removed altogether, she did offer an alternative solution, one that Corden seems on board with.
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In her list of changes being requested, she suggested removal or “completely change the food presented on his show to something else.” She also called for a formal apology, as well as funds to be donated to local Asian American organizations to help Asian-owned restaurants and businesses.
On a recent episode of Howard Stern’s radio show, Corden told the outspoken host, “We heard that story, and the next time we do that bit we absolutely won’t involve or use any of those foods.”
“As you said at the start, our show is a show about joy and light and love, we don’t want to make a show to upset anybody,” he continued. As an example of how the segment can be tweaked, Corden recalled when Anna Wintour was the guest and they served up a pizza with cheeseburgers on it.
