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Director Chris Columbus Voices Regret Over Donald Trump Cameo in ‘Home Alone 2’
Acclaimed filmmaker Chris Columbus, director of the holiday classic Home Alone, has expressed his continued dissatisfaction with Donald Trump’s brief appearance in the sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Columbus revealed he views the Donald Trump cameo as a “curse” and wishes the scene could be removed from the beloved 1992 movie. The scene in question features Macaulay Culkin’s character, Kevin McCallister, encountering Trump in the Plaza Hotel and asking for directions, a sequence lasting just seven seconds. The director has become increasingly vocal about his regret over including the moment.
Columbus Describes Cameo as a “Curse”
In a recent interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Columbus stated, “(It has) become this curse. It’s become an albatross for me. I just wish it was gone. I can’t cut it. If I cut it, I’ll probably be sent out of the country. I’ll be considered sort of not fit to live in the United States, so I’ll have to go back to Italy or something.” He conveyed a sense of being burdened by the scene’s presence in the film, expressing a desire to eliminate it, albeit humorously acknowledging the impracticality of doing so.
Background of Trump’s Appearance
The Oscar-nominated director, also known for helming the first two Harry Potter movies, had previously discussed the Home Alone 2 cameo with Business Insider in 2020. In that interview, Columbus alleged that Trump essentially “bullied his way into the movie.”
According to Columbus, “We paid the fee, but he also said, ‘The only way you can use the Plaza is if I’m in the movie’. So we agreed to put him in the movie, and when we screened it for the first time the oddest thing happened: People cheered when Trump showed up on screen. So I said to my editor, ‘Leave him in the movie. It’s a moment for the audience’,” Columbus recounted, detailing the audience’s positive reaction at the initial screening as the reason for retaining the scene.
Trump Contests Columbus’s Account
Donald Trump has publicly refuted Columbus’s narrative regarding his Home Alone 2 appearance. In a 2023 post on Truth Social, Trump maintained that Columbus was “begging” for him to be in the film.
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“I was very busy, and didn’t want to do it. They were very nice, but above all, persistent. I agreed, and the rest is history! That little cameo took off like a rocket, and the movie was a big success, and still is, especially around Christmas time.”
Trump further added, “People call me whenever it is aired. Now, however, 30 years later, Columbus…put out a statement that I bullied myself into the movie. Nothing could be further from the truth. That cameo helped make the movie a success … Just another Hollywood guy from the past looking for a quick fix of Trump publicity for himself!” Trump’s statement presents a starkly different version of events, emphasizing his perceived contribution to the movie’s success.
Public and Broadcast Reactions to the Trump Cameo
The scene in Lost in New York shows Kevin entering the Plaza Hotel, which Trump owned at the time, and briefly engaging with him for directions.
Columbus is not alone in wishing for the cameo’s removal. Macaulay Culkin himself engaged with an online campaign advocating for digitally replacing Trump in Home Alone 2.
Responding to a fan’s tweet suggesting, “Petition to digitally replace Trump in ‘Home Alone 2’ with 40-year-old Macaulay Culkin,” the actor replied, “Sold.” This public endorsement from Culkin amplified calls to alter the film.
In 2019, Canadian broadcaster CBC Television made headlines when they edited out the scene for a broadcast. CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson explained that eight minutes were cut from the 120-minute film to accommodate commercial breaks.
Thompson clarified that these edits were implemented in 2014, prior to Trump’s political ascent, and were not motivated by political considerations, attributing the removal solely to time constraints for broadcasting.