Chris Columbus has reignited debate over Donald Trump’s controversial seven-second cameo in Home Alone: Lost in New York, calling it a “curse” he wishes he could erase. The director revealed he nearly cut the scene decades ago but kept it after test audiences cheered Trump’s appearance at a screening.
The Plaza Hotel sequence, filmed at Trump’s property, became a bargaining chip: “The only way you can use the Plaza is if I’m in the movie,” Columbus recalled being told. Trump later claimed Columbus “begged” him to participate—a claim the director called “false,” stating: “There’s no world I would ever beg a non-actor to be in a movie”3.
Now, Columbus sarcastically fears deportation if he edits the scene: “If I cut it, I’ll probably be sent out of the country… back to Italy or something”4. The remark nods to Trump’s immigration policies, though no actual legal threat exists. The cameo briefly vanished in a Canadian broadcast, prompting Trump to declare the film “will never be the same”1.
Despite mixed reactions to the sequel, Trump’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it role remains culturally divisive—and legally unremovable for now.
