Ricky Gervais divides fans in James Corden U-turn as he ‘copies’ joke

James Corden, 44, has come under fire once again after eagle-eyed fans noticed that a joke told on his chat show was very similar to one written by Ricky Gervais, 61. On Monday night, the Gavin and Stacey star discussed Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover and quipped: ‘When you see Elon Musk talk about Twitter, he does this thing where he goes, ‘Well, it’s the town square.”But it isn’t, because if someone puts up a poster in a town square that says, ‘Guitar lessons available’, you don’t get people in the town going, ‘I don’t wanna play the guitar!”Well, then that sign wasn’t for you it was for somebody else, you don’t have to get mad about all of it.’The segment then reminded fans of a very similar joke that Ricky told during his 2018 stand-up tour, Humanity.Ricky said in the skit: ‘That’s like going into a town square and seeing a big notice board with a notice for ‘Guitar lessons’, and you go, ‘But I don’t f***ing want guitar lessons’.READ MORE:James Jordan admits ‘everyone thinks I’m mad’ after homeless struggle Ricky Gervais divides fans in James Corden U-turn as host ‘copies’ joke. (Image: BBC/CBS) James Corden was the butt of Ricky Gervais’ joke at the Golden Globes 2020. (Image: Getty)’Fine! It’s not for you then, just walk away and don’t worry about it!’After comparisons of the joke went viral on Twitter, Ricky surprised many of his fans with his response.In a now-deleted tweet, Ricky re-posted The Late Late Show clip and quipped: ‘The bit about the town square advert for guitar lessons is brilliant [laughing emoji].’In response, a user named Drew remarked: ‘Didn’t deliver it like you though. I assume he asked to use that joke?’  Ricky Gervais shared the clip of James Corden telling a similar joke in a now-deleted tweet. (Image: Twitter Ricky Gervais) Ricky Gervais surprised some fans when he said he “felt sorry” for James Corden. (Image: Twitter Ricky Gervais)To which Ricky replied: ‘No. I reckon one of the writers ‘came up with it’ for him.”I doubt he would knowingly just copy such a famous stand-up routine word for word like that.’Jake then asked: ‘Why did you delete your original tweet about this?’And Ricky said: ‘Started to feel sorry for him,’ along with a laughing emoji.DON’T MISSJames Jordan admits ‘everyone thinks I’m mad’ after homeless struggle[LATEST]Michael Douglas is unrecognisable as he unveils new long, dyed hair[PICTURES]US star talks ‘working’ with Meghan after ‘overplaying her hand’ claim[INSIGHT]Ricky’s diplomatic response divided fans, particularly after James has been the butt of the comedian’s jokes for several years.User @G_Division said: ‘I started to feel sorry for him and then I remembered it’s James Corden and it went away.’Mark also joked that ‘would have left’ Ricky’s original tweet on the site.However, users like John praised Ricky for ‘being kind’.The fan wrote: ‘Ricky you appear to actually be practicing the often quoted ‘be kind’ thing. Good on you, you’re a class act. It’ll never catch on of course!’And @bloke_street said: ‘I reckon he was set up.’Express.co.uk has contacted James Corden’s representatives for comment.