Donald Trump. James Devaney/GC Images
Donald Trump slammed Home Alone 2: Lost in New York director Chris Columbus after the filmmaker claimed that the former president bullied his way into making a cameo in the 1992 sequel.
“Director Chris Columbus and others were begging me to make a cameo appearance in Home Alone 2,” Trump, 77, wrote Wednesday, December 27, on his Truth Social media platform.
Trump was responding to a resurfaced December 2020 Business Insider interview during which Columbus, 65, said that he insisted on being in the film.
In Home Alone 2, Trump appeared in a scene with the star of the movie, Macaulay Culkin, shot at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, which he owned at the time.
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In the interview, Columbus, who also directed the original Home Alone in 1990, said he “wanted to shoot in the lobby” of the hotel and assumed he could simply pay a location fee to use the Plaza. He paid the fee, but he claimed that Trump made an additional requirement.
“’The only way you can use the Plaza is if I’m in the movie,’” Columbus recalled of his conversation with Trump. “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.’ But he did bully his way into the movie.”
Trump denied Columbus’ assertion that he forced his way into the production.
“Nothing could be further from the truth. That cameo helped make the movie a success, but if they felt bullied or didn’t want me, why did they put me in and keep me there for over 30 years,” he continued. “Because I was — and still am — great for the movie, that’s why! Just another Hollywood guy from the past looking for a quick fix of Trump publicity for himself!”
In Home Alone 2, 8-year-old Kevin McCallister, played by Culkin, now 43, rides to the airport with his family in Chicago to fly to Miami for the holidays. While holding his father’s bag, he is separated from his family, and he accidentally boards a flight to New York. While roaming around the city, he sees the Plaza and he decides to stay at the hotel using his father’s credit card which he found in the bag. There he sees Trump, appearing as himself, and asks him for help.
In his social media post, Trump asserted that Columbus and his team had to convince him to appear in the film.
“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,” he wrote. “That little cameo took off like a rocket, and the movie was a big success — and still is — especially around Christmas time. People call me whenever it is aired.”
