'Home Alone 2' director calls Trump cameo in film a 'curse'

Filmmaker Chris Columbus, who directed Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, said Donald Trump's brief appearance in the 1992 holiday film has become “an albatross” for him and admitted he “wishes it was gone.”

In a recent interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Columbus reflected on the cameo, saying, “I can’t cut it.” He added sarcastically, “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.”

Trump appears in the movie for just seven seconds, giving directions to Macaulay Culkin’s character inside the Plaza Hotel in New York City, which Trump owned at the time. According to Columbus, Trump only allowed filming at the hotel on the condition that he be included in the movie.

“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,” Columbus said in a 2020 interview with Business Insider.

In response to those comments, Trump posted on Truth Social in 2023, claiming Columbus was “begging” him to appear. 

“I was very busy, and didn’t want to do it,” Trump. “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. People call me whenever it is aired. Now, however, 30 years later, Columbus (what was his real name?) 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!”

Columbus told the Chronicle that he intended to cut the cameo and wishes he had done so, but Trump’s appearance was a big hit with audiences.

“We screened the film in Chicago, and when that moment came onscreen the audience went crazy,” Columbus claimed. “They cheered and they cheered and they thought it was hilarious. I think I know a lot about comedy, but I don’t, obviously, because I never thought that was going to be considered hilarious.”

“Years later, it’s become this curse. It’s become this thing that I wish it was not there. What’s going through this guy’s mind? He said I was lying. I’m not lying. He said I begged him to be in the movie, but there’s no world I would ever beg a non-actor to be in a movie. But we were desperate to get the Plaza Hotel,” he added. “But it’s there. It’s become an albatross for me. I just wish it was gone.”