New Year (Web Desk) - Donald Trump says he didn't bully his way into his cameo in 1992's "Home Alone 2."
"Nothing could be further from the truth," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday, referencing remarks about the cameo made by the movie's director, Chris Columbus.
Columbus told Business Insider, in a story published in 2020, that Trump had demanded to appear in the movie in exchange for filming in The Plaza Hotel, which he owned at the time.
"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," Columbus told BI.
The former president, however, recalled events differently. According to Trump, Columbus begged him to film the cameo.
"I was very busy, and didn't want to do it. They were very nice, but above all, persistent. I agreed," Trump wrote earlier in his post.
Trump's cameo takes place in the earlier half of the film, when Macaulay Culkin's character Kevin checks into The Plaza.
Kevin asks Trump, who plays himself in the movie, for directions to the hotel's lobby. The blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo lasts less than 10 seconds.
"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!" Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.
Trump's post may not be as self-aggrandizing as one may think. Columbus told Business Insider back in 2020 that he'd retained Trump's cameo because it tested well with audiences.
"When we screened it for the first time the oddest thing happened: People cheered when Trump showed up on-screen," Columbus said.
"So I said to my editor, 'Leave him in the movie. It's a moment for the audience,'" he said. Representatives for Trump and Columbus did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.