James Corden is an oddly controversial public figure: an entertainer who seeks only to bring joy to the world. But sometimes he goes too far. (Then again, sometimes he gets texts from Tom Cruise about landing a helicopter in his yard.) An example of this happened recently, when he and three cast members from the forthcoming musical movie take on Cinderella — in which he plays one of the mice turned into a footman — ran into a Los Angeles street, all for a flash mob stunt meant to advertise the film. But for some, the move did the opposite of delight.
James Corden, Camila Cabello, Billy Porter and Idina Menzel stopped traffic in LA for a flash mob with a cover of Jennifer Lopez’s “Let’s Get Loud” to promote #CinderellaMovie https://t.co/dxm8LIKVvi
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) August 28, 2021
Footage disseminated on social media Saturday showing Corden, star Camila Cabello, Billy Porter, and Idina Menzel dancing and singing in traffic to Jennifer Lopez’s “Let’s Get Loud,” in costumes as their characters. (Porter plays the gender-neutral fairy godparent while Menzel is the evils stepmother). And what better way to make the throngs aware of this than to stop traffic in one of the most car-clogged cities on earth?
Indeed, rather than charmed, some people on social media found themselves livid. They pointed out that Corden and company probably made people late for work.
imagine being late to work because james corden had to do hip thrusts at you in a rat costume https://t.co/vNuEFq85na
— todd bonzalez (@doinkpatrol) August 28, 2021
Imagine you’re faced with two choices: You can be late to work OR you can make it on time but you have to take out James Corden. https://t.co/PpRDlyJAPN
— Louis Peitzman (@LouisPeitzman) August 28, 2021
imagine having a terrible day and then on ur way home ur forced to watch camila cabello and james corden dance right in front of u..this would sent me over the edge https://t.co/2OU6oDHgft
— robbie 🇵🇸 (@Robertvrse) August 28, 2021
https://twitter.com/_alex_joshua/status/1431616986254041092
https://twitter.com/samchizanga/status/1431474155405381634
Others questioned the logic of the happening in the first place.
james corden: i would like to dress up as a mouse and do a humping motion dance move in front of a car today
— Rajat Suresh (@rajat_suresh) August 28, 2021
And there were lots of movie and TV jokes.
Me, late for my shitty job, as James Corden shakes his groin in my face https://t.co/9eAc5G7Gn1 pic.twitter.com/uJkQKNJAJz
— Zane Schacht – Voice Goblin 🐀 (@VoicesByZane) August 28, 2021
POV your driving to the hospital to say goodbye to a loved one and James Corden jumps in front of the car and dances to promote his crappy musical pic.twitter.com/OP59lP8kV6
— duncan im a ho (@kingsmillirving) August 28, 2021
https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1431658028361609220
The driver seeing James Corden and Camila Cabello singing at on the road in front of them pic.twitter.com/LQK4MSsOwi
— JustRandomThoughts (@randomstuffxzxz) August 28, 2021
the people stuck in traffic while james corden and camila hip thrust and dance around their cars pic.twitter.com/GIzRtyjRWd
— sophie (@poppinapathetic) August 28, 2021
https://twitter.com/therealaaronk/status/1431614398053949445
For what it’s worth, Cinderella — which comes a mere six years after Disney’s live-action stab, which starred Lily James and Cate Blanchett — hits Amazon Prime on September.