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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
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Kyle O'Sullivan

James Corden swore at Boris Johnson in tense helmet row - but has now made bike U-turn

James Corden once got into a clash with Boris Johnson over helmets - but has seemingly had a change of opinion.

The Late Late Show host got into a foul-mouthed altercation with another cyclist this week after he was thrown from his rented bike while travelling in London.

James was reportedly 'sent flying' after he was forced to dodge another man who cut across him and 'narrowly missed traffic'.

In the moments immediately after the incident, a furious James was filmed picking up the rented bike from the ground while wife Julia sat on hers to the side.

The former Gavin and Stacey star is said to have confronted the other cyclist and was reportedly heard swearing at him after they nearly crashed.

Ironically, James had been riding on a Boris Bike, which he claimed he didn't use during a row over cycling with the outgoing Prime Minister a few years ago.

James had been out cycling on rented bikes with his wife (GETTY)

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When Johnson was Mayor of London, he made an appearance on The Jonathan Ross show in 2014 to speak about bike safety amongst other topics.

Corden, who was also a guest on the sofa, was asked by BoJo whether he travelled around by bicycle.

"I have bought a bike. I don't go on these [Boris Bikes] because I like to wear a helmet," said James, who has clearly had a change of heart regarding this in recent times.

During the incident this week, James was on one of the rented cycles and was not seen wearing a helmet, but wife Julia did have one on.

Johnson told James he "made a very good point" regarding helmets, but then went on to make wild claims about not needing them when cycling on the road.

He claimed: "They tried making the helmets mandatory in Australia and people just stopped doing it, they stopped taking the [hire] bikes.

"So, I think the health benefits of encouraging cycling outweigh, in my view, the risk and that actually the medical evidence is mixed on this subject."

Johnson and Corden did not see eye to eye (Brian J Ritchie/Hot Sauce/REX/Shutterstock)

Hitting straight back, Corden said: "It's mixed on what? Helmets? Bulls**t. That's absolute bulls**t. No way, no way."

James then suggested that they should each go and get a watermelon, put one in a helmet, and then drop there's on the road to compare the damage.

"That's not true. It just isn't true. It's better to wear a helmet," insisted James, but Johnson claimed he didn't want to get into an argument.

Johnson said: "Tragically, if you look at the people who have accidents in London. We have a small number of fatalities and a large number of minor accidents.

"Most of them have nothing to do with the head and the fatalities almost never. I hesistate to say this as I know people are very passionate about the issue and I'll be murdered for this tomorrow.

"But the reality is we are not going to make wearing helmets on the hire bikes mandatory as it would discourage cycling. I want to encourage cycling."

When Johnson claimed cycling levels had gone up, host Jonathan pointed out this was "on the bikes that Ken Linvingstone put in".

The pair were on The Jonathan Ross Show together (Brian J Ritchie/Hot Sauce/REX/Shutterstock)

Corden clearly isn't Johnson's biggest fan - as he wasn't very complimentary when asked to describe him in three words in July 2019.

Going well over the word limit, he told GQ that his answer was "It's a shame", "Not Tom Watson" and "He probably lies".

In December that year, James dressed up as Johnson during a comedy sketch for Saturday Night Live about the supposed "bad boys of NATO".

Chat show host Jimmy Fallon played Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, while French president Emmanuel Macron was played by Hollywood actor Paul Rudd.

James' version of Johnson was seen spitting into his hands, messing his hair up and telling other world leaders to " Brexit off".

The hilarious skit ended with Corden's Boris character putting an 'impeach me' sign on the back of Donald Trump, who was played by Alec Baldwin.

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