People assumed James Corden was yelling at airport staff in a viral photo — but a passenger says he was actually helping travelers stranded by an emergency landing

• Presenter James Corden was photographed speaking to airport workers on Sunday. 
• After he was banned from a restaurant in 2022, people assumed he was verbally abusing the workers. 
• A passenger on the flight from Portugal to the UK said he was defending stranded travelers. 

Former "Late Late Show" host James Corden helped passengers on a flight from Portugal to the UK on Sunday according to a fellow traveler, after the plane made an emergency landing.

Photos of Corden speaking to airport staff circulated on social media, with many users assuming that he was being abusive toward workers.

This assumption was made due to an incident in 2022 when Corden was banned from a New York restaurant for being rude to staff.

In an interview with UK news outlet Metro published on Sunday, a passenger named Vanessa said those onboard the British Airways flight were told: "Gather your possessions as best you can, take off your shoes, and when you're told to by the airplane staff, please adopt the brake position and when we land if you're able, please find your nearest emergency exit and vacate the plane."

Staff then told passengers they wouldn't need to "assume the brake position," Vanessa said. But an issue with the flaps on the wing triggered an emergency landing 45 minutes after takeoff, which resulted in travelers waiting on the tarmac at Lisbon International Airport for three hours before the flight was canceled.

Corden tried to entertain passengers while they waited, Vanessa said: "he walked up and down the aisles talking to people, and let everybody take a selfie with him."

She added: "He was just really nice, he would have been well within his rights to sit and sulk in his seat like the rest of us would be doing but he didn't."

Vanessa clarified that in the viral photos, Corden was telling the plane crew that the airport staff had put them into the wrong immigration queues.

"The people he's speaking to in that picture are the flight staff on our plane. I watched him fist bump the pilot as he got off the plane, he said, 'Thank you very much,'" she recalled.

The actor also reportedly defended some of the passengers who were stranded in Lisbon without complimentary hotel accommodation.

"James was a Club flyer and he stood there, and was like 'What about all these people who've got all these kids with them?' like saying that's not acceptable. It's not right," she added.

Vanessa said Corden was equally polite when the passengers returned to the airport on Monday for the rescheduled flight.

"I saw him let women and children in front of him. He was a really nice guy both times," she said.

Representatives for Corden and British Airways did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.