Home Alone 2: Bizarre origins of Donald Trump's cameo revealed by Matt Damon

It was the same reason he filmed several cameos in the 1990s

Donald Trump made a cameo appearance in Home Alone 2 for a very bizarre reason.

Trump can briefly be seen appearing as himself alongside Macauley Culkin in 1992 sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

But, according to Matt Damon, the appearance was due to a clause in his contract that demanded a part be written for him if film productions sought the use of one of his buildings.

It was because of this that Trump also filmed a small appearance in Scent of a Woman that same year.

“[Director] Martin Brest had to write something in Scent of a Woman — and the whole crew was in on it,” Damon told The Hollywood Reporter in 2017.

You have to waste an hour of your day with a bulls*** shot: Donald Trump walks in and Al Pacino’s like, ‘Hello, Mr Trump!’ – you had to call him by name – and then he exits. You waste a little time so that you can get the permit, and then you can cut the scene out. But I guess in Home Alone 2 they left it in.”

Chris O’Donnell, who starred in Scent of a Woman alongside Pacino, previously revealed Trump and his then-wife Marla Maples had cameos that were cut from the film.

The actor described how original pages for scenes shot at the Plaza Hotel were updated to include a shot that showed Trump and Maples leaving a limousine.

“It was explained to us that in order for us to film at The Plaza, we had a little walk on part for Donald and Marla,” O’Donnell told Conan O’Brien in 2017.

When asked what part Trump played, the actor told O’Brien: “It was nothing, it got cut from the movie.”

O’Donnell revealed that the pair even went through hair and makeup and ate on the film’s set.

Trump’s cameo role in Home Alone 2 was cut from a Canadian television broadcast earlier this week, although a spokesperson maintains that it wasn’t due to political reasons.