Never say never! Justin Bieber explained the thought process behind his viral challenge to fight Tom Cruise in a hilarious new Carpool Karaoke appearance.
The “Yummy” singer, 25, joined James Corden in the wildly popular late-night segment and dished on everything from married life with Hailey Bieber (née Baldwin) to his favorite Friends characters. When the Late Late Show With James Corden host, 41, asked why Justin wanted to face off against Cruise, 57, the Grammy winner got to the bottom of the bizarre tweet.
“I don’t know, I was just being stupid, to be honest,” Justin said. “But then people were like, ‘I wanna see this happen.’ And I was like, ‘You know what? That could actually be funny.'”
The “Despacito” crooner turned heads in June 2019 when he took to Twitter to extend a strange invitation to the Risky Business star.
“I wanna challenge Tom Cruise to fight in the octagon. Tom if you don’t take this fight your scared and you will never live it down,” Justin wrote at the time. “Who is willing to put on the fight? @danawhite?”
A few days later, however, the “Baby” artist admitted that his proposition wasn’t serious. “The story is, I’d seen an interview with him and he was just on my mind,” he told TMZ at the time. “It was just a random tweet. I do that stuff sometimes.”
While the “I Don’t Care” singer was fairly confident that he would be able to take the Mission Impossible actor down, Corden was a little more skeptical of Justin’s chances.
“I don’t think it would be much fun for you,” the Cats actor joked. “I gotta say, if you and me have a fight, you win. If you and Tom Cruise have a fight, I’d back Tom every day of the week … Work your way up to Tom Cruise. Fight me, and then Zach Braff, and then you do Tom Cruise.”
The doubtful comments set Justin off, as he teased in return, “I’m dangerous! My agility is insane … I don’t think you understand the mind control that I have. My mind control is another specimen. I’m different. I’m the Conner McGregor of entertainment!”
After their playfully heated discussion, the pair sang along to some of Justin’s biggest hits, like “Yummy,” “One Less Lonely Girl” and “Love Yourself.” The musician and comedian chatted like old friends between tunes, even discussing which Friends mainstay Justin is most similar to: “All of them.”
The Late Late Show With James Corden airs on CBS weeknights at 12:35 a.m. ET.
