James Corden Addresses ‘Carpool Karaoke’ Towing Controversy: ‘I Know It Looks Bad’

James Corden on Wednesday issued a tongue-in-cheek response to the towing controversy that engulfed his “Carpool Karaoke” segment last week.

Fans of “The Late Late Show” freaked out after a bystander’s video showed Corden filming an upcoming edition of the bit with Justin Bieber in which their SUV was being towed on a trailer pulled by a truck ― not driven by Corden.

Corden lightheartedly dubbed the “very, very serious allegations” that he doesn’t really drive the SUV as “fake news,” before acknowledging “this looks bad.”

“But I just want to say, right now, that I always drive the car unless we’re doing something where we think it might not be safe, like a dance routine or a costume change or if I’m drunk,” he deadpanned. Later, he joked: “I’m just shocked I’ve done something that upset people more than ‘Cats.’”

Corden promised that “95% of the time I really am endangering the lives of the world’s biggest pop stars,” driving around creating “Carpool Karaoke” episodes. But he encouraged viewers to understand “this is a TV show, not everything is real. Our show doesn’t tape after midnight, we tape at 5 p.m. and pretend that’s it late.”

“And I hate to be the bearer of even more bad news, but while we’re getting things out in the open, I don’t actually need them to help me get to work, right? Often, I’m at work already,” he added.

Corden also revealed how he’s “never once in the history of doing that bit ever used the carpool lane, there’s not even carpool lane on my way to work” before listing the five times he’s used a tow for the segment.