We have historic inflation, a border crisis, war in Israel, and countless other problems thanks to Joe Biden. On any given day there are important issues to discuss as we inch closer and closer to the 2024 presidential election. It’s an important election to say the least. I hate to regurgitate the old cliché that it’s the “most important election of our lifetimes,” but the stakes are pretty darn high -- and that’s no exaggeration.
So why is Donald Trump wasting his time yakking about a movie cameo from thirty years ago?
By now, everyone knows that Donald Trump had a short cameo appearance in "Home Alone 2," which was released in 1992. Trump was then the owner New York City’s Plaza Hotel, where much of the action of the film takes place. Over at "Rolling Stone," Ej Dickson stirred up the issue of the cameo in an article the day after Christmas.
"One of the most poorly-aged cameos in Christmas movie history has now been explained,” she writes. Dickson, who has apparently lived under a rock, was evidently unaware of the cameo and believed that her readers watching the movie, which has recently been made available to stream on Disney+, would need an explanation as to why Trump was is in the movie.
"In a new interview with "Business Insider," "Home Alone 2" director Chris Columbus has finally explained that baffling cameo,” Dickson explains. "Basically, he says, Trump, who then owned the Plaza Hotel, refused to let the crew film there unless they gave him a small role in the film."
I should point out that the interview in question is not new at all. In fact, it was published on New Year’s Eve three years ago. Dickson, a senior writer for "Rolling Stone," either never checked the date on the interview or just wanted to write the story so badly because she wanted to write something unflattering about Trump.
Flashback: Liberal Snowflakes Want Trump Digitally Removed From 'Home Alone 2'
Why does this matter? It doesn't, really. Columbus made the allegation three years ago, and it's a dubious allegation at that. In the 1990s, Trump was an extremely popular public figure. Even Hollywood liked him. Did Columbus really not want Trump in the movie and only relent because he wanted to film in the hotel, or was the cameo offered to sweeten the deal to get permission to film in the hotel?
Who the heck cares?
Apparently, Trump does. He caught wind of the story being recycled and decided to respond to it on Truth Social.
30 years ago (how time flies!), Director Chris Columbus, and others, were begging me to make a cameo appearance in Home Alone 2. They rented the Plaza Hotel in New York, which I owned at the time. 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! 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, but if they felt bullied, or didn’t want me, why did they put me in, and keep me there, for over 30 years? 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!
Do I think Columbus begged Trump for the cameo? No. Did the cameo have anything to do with the movie's success? It obviously didn't hurt. Heck, even Columbus concedes that, at the time, it was a popular cameo.
“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, and when we screened it for the first time the oddest thing happened: People cheered when Trump showed up on-screen,” Columbus told "Business Insider" in 2020. “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.”
Columbus most certainly knew of Trump's popularity at the time, and his admission of the positive response to the cameo undermines his claim of being bullied. It was good business to offer him a cameo.
But I digress. Trump should have better things to do than respond to a three-year-old story about something that happened thirty years ago when he has a record to run on. He needs to pick his battles, and jumping into the fray over his "Home Alone 2" cameo just doesn't make any sense. With all the problems we have in this country, Trump should be focused on those.
