Macaulay Culkin Responds to Fans Who Want Donald Trump Removed From ‘Home Alone 2’

Macaulay Culkin is joining the legion of Home Alone fans calling for President Donald Trump to be removed from the film’s beloved sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

The 1992 movie features a cameo in which the current U.S. president, a former reality TV host, points the mischievous Kevin McCallister (Culkin) in the right direction while he’s running through the Plaza Hotel, which Trump owned at the time.

In December 2020, Home Alone 2 director Chris Columbus claimed Trump forced his way into the movie as a condition for letting them film in the Plaza. “We wanted to shoot in the lobby. We couldn’t rebuild the Plaza on a soundstage,” Columbus told Insider on the film’s 30th anniversary. “Trump said okay. We paid the fee, but he also said, ‘The only way you can use the Plaza is if I’m in the movie.’”

So they agreed. “When we screened it for the first time, the oddest thing happened: People cheered when Trump showed up on-screen,” Columbus continued. “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.”

However, fans have recently been calling for the film to remove his cameo. These requests only amplified in the wake of the U.S. House of Representatives impeaching Trump for “incitement of insurrection” (tied to January 6’s violent Capitol riot by his supporters). 

On January 13, Culkin made his approval of this idea clear when he tweeted “Bravo” in reaction to a user who decided to take it upon themselves to remove Trump from the holiday classic.

He also replied “sold” to a Twitter user who suggested a 40-year-old Culkin should be digitally rendered in Trump’s place.

All jokes aside, this writer is strongly against permanently removing Trump’s cameo from the film, as has been done in the past on occasion by the Canadian channel CBC, per The Hollywood Reporter. 

Do I enjoy watching racist, sexist, seditious Donald Trump in this movie? No. Absolutely not. But that’s exactly the point. By erasing Trump from Home Alone 2, we’re attempting to distance ourselves from the fact a large portion of this country voted to place the host of The Apprentice in America’s highest office. We’re pretending that, as a country, we didn’t elect the guy who made embarrassing cameos in Home Alone 2 and Sex and the City. We don’t get to walk away from that. 

Emily Tannenbaum is an entertainment journalist, critic, and screenwriter living in L.A. Follow her on Twitter.