Harry Potter Director Reveals How That Trump Cameo in Home Alone 2 Came to Be

Home Alone 2 has entered the chat again, and yes, it is about the Donald Trump cameo. Director Chris Columbus is looking back at how that moment came to be, why he kept it, and why he now wishes it would disappear. Trump, unsurprisingly, says that is not how any of it happened.

How the cameo got in there in the first place

Back in 1992, Columbus wanted to shoot inside New York City’s Plaza Hotel. Trump owned the place at the time, and according to Columbus, access came with a condition: put Trump in the movie. Columbus said in a 2020 interview that they paid the hotel fee and agreed to the cameo to secure the location. The scene itself is blink-and-you-get-it: Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin walks into the Plaza, asks a man for directions to the lobby, and that man is Trump. During early screenings, audiences responded big to that quick beat, so Columbus left it in.

Columbus now calls it a burden

Fast-forward to 2025. In a new interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Columbus says the cameo has become a long-term headache he wishes he could erase.

Years later, it’s become this curse. It’s become this thing that I wish it was not there... But it’s there. It’s become an albatross for me. I just wish it was gone.

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.

So the short version: he kept it because crowds loved it at the time, but he’d yank it now if he thought he could get away with it.

Trump: I didn’t force it, they begged me

Trump has a very different memory. In a post on Truth Social, he denied pushing his way into the movie and said the production pushed him.

I was very busy, and didn’t want to do it. Director Chris Columbus, and others, were begging me to make a cameo appearance in Home Alone 2. They were very nice, but above all, persistent. I agreed, and the rest is history!... 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.

He also argued the cameo helped the movie and questioned why it stayed in if Columbus felt pressured. Columbus says audience reaction made the call; Trump says they chased him. Two versions of the same behind-the-scenes story, both very sure of themselves.

Meanwhile, the movie did just fine

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York was a big hit regardless, taking in $358 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo. The Trump moment is still exactly where you remember it: Kevin walks into the Plaza, asks for the lobby, and Trump points him the way. Short, obvious, and apparently immortal.

If you’re revisiting it this season, it’s streaming on Hulu.