People are calling for removal of Trump's 'Home Alone 2' cameo

Can you believe we only have a handful more days to go before the White House says "adios" to Trump and opens its door to President-elect Joe Biden and soon-to-be first lady, Dr. Jill Biden? After four long years of what felt like an eternity stuck in a nightmare, January 20th cannot get here fast enough. And since we cannot make time go faster, netizens have for now redirected their energy and impatience toward kicking Donald Trump out from another American classic: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. After the disgraced president fell to an all-new low in the public's eye following last week's violent riot in the U.S. Capitol, fans of the Christmas classic are demanding to see his cameo digitally removed from the iconic film. 

Crafty Twitter users took it upon themselves to photoshop others into the cameo instead of Trump, including Star Wars' Jabba the Hutt, Dolly Parton, Keanu Reeves, Joe Biden, Nicolas Cage, and adult Macaulay Culkin. The now 40-year-old Culkin himself expressed his approval for Trump to be removed from the film, telling one Twitter user he was "sold" on a petition to remove Trump and saying "bravo" to another who made the 74-year-old disappear from the scene.

In a way, this is a fitting end to Trump's presence in the film, which director Chris Columbus revealed in November, Trump had bullied his way into. Speaking to Insider on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the classic comedy, Columbus revealed how the 45th president of the United States had strong-armed a cameo out of him. At the time, Trump — who found fame as a New York City businessman — owned the Plaza Hotel where the filmmaker wanted to film. "We wanted to shoot in the lobby," Columbus recalled. "We couldn't rebuild The Plaza on a soundstage."

Although everyone involved with the movie thought they would simply pay Trump a fee — as is the norm when shooting at a specific location — Trump wanted more than just money for using the space for filming. "We paid the fee, but he also said, 'The only way you can use the Plaza is if I'm in the movie,'" Columbus said. "So we agreed to put him in the movie." It's unclear whether the director had initially planned to keep Trump's cameo in the movie, but it was decided for him the first time Lost in New York was shown to an audience. 

"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.' But he did bully his way into the movie." Perhaps now that the audience is more likely to boo than cheer at the president's appearance in the movie, those concerned might consider removing his little cameo from the film for good. After all, as the Canadian broadcaster, CBC, proved for years, editing out Trump's seven-second cameo doesn't take anything away from the story.

And if they are determined to keep the scene in the film, they might as well gift some joy to the 1067 (as of Friday morning) people who have signed a petition to replace Trump with Biden in the film. The petition which was started by Kevin Broberg, states: "'Home Alone 2' is tarnished. It has a racist stain on it in the shape of Donald J Trump. I petition that he be edited out of the film and replaced with Joe Biden. Nothing ruins holiday cheer like a sexist, xenophobic, race-baiting bigot. For the sake of future generations, Trump must be replaced. Please, save Christmas. Edit Trump out of this Hollywood classic." You can sign the petition here.