James Corden urges viewers to ‘keep talking about Grenfell’ in emotional Late Late Show tribute

James Corden asked viewers to “keep talking about Grenfell” in a heartfelt speech as he brought The Late Late Show to London.

The late night host, who is presenting his CBS talk show live from the capital this week, used his opening monologue to mark the second anniversary of the small kitchen fire at Grenfell Tower which killed 72 men, women and children.

Describing the blaze as “one of the biggest disasters to strike this country since the Second World War,” Corden explained to American viewers that the cladding used on the high rise building “was deadly but perfectly legal.”

Wearing a green heart badge in memory of those who died, Corden drew the audience’s attention to a recent report that suggests that removal works are yet to begin on hundreds of tower blocks with similar cladding.

“It turns out that same kind of cladding that was used at Grenfell is still in use in over 300 high rise and public buildings in Britain, buildings which again are occupied primarily by low income families,” he said.

“Imagine putting your child to bed in one of those buildings knowing that the only thing that’s keeping another Grenfell from happening is hope, I guess, good luck maybe.

“Now hope and luck is perfectly fine if you’re choosing to make a pavlova for the first time on the Bake Off, but as far as keeping people safe it is shamefully inadequate.”

Corden launched into an impassioned plea to the audience, imploring them to “keep talking” otherwise “nothing will change.”

“We can keep talking about Grenfell, we can keep talking about the 14 families who survived the fire who still don’t have permanent housing two years later,” he said.

“And we can keep talking about the thousands of people who still live in buildings that are vulnerable to similar fires with only hope and good luck keeping them safe.

“With a news cycle that changes every two hours, in a country that can’t decide whether it wants to leave or remain and is absolutely consumed with whether Love Island’s Tommy Fury ends up with Maura or Molly-Mae, we have to keep talking about Grenfell and the people who are affected because that is the least we can do otherwise nothing will change.”

The Late Late Show is live from London this week and airs tonight at 10pm on Sky One and Now TV.