President Trump’s cameo scene in the holiday classic “Home Alone 2: Lost In New York” was reportedly cut from showings of the movie on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) this month.
The edit was noted by viewers on Twitter, some who praised the network for the move and others who lamented CBC’s decision.
CBC told ComicBook.com, which first reported the backlash to the edit, that the movie was edited not for political purposes but to allow for commercials.
“As is often the case with features adapted for television, Home Alone 2 was edited to allow for commercial time within the format,” CBC said.
It appears the Trump-free edit might not be new for the network, with at least one Twitter user mentioning it as far back as December 2015.
CBC later confirmed on Twitter that the edit was made for time in 2014, before Trump was elected.
“CBC responds to criticism that short scene featuring Donald Trump was deleted from movie Home Alone 2, which aired recently. Spokesperson says ‘several’ cuts made for time. ‘These edits were done in 2014 when we first acquired the film and before Mr. Trump was elected president,’ ” CBC tweeted.
Trump mentioned his “Home Alone 2” cameo on Christmas Eve while speaking to military service members in a teleconference.
“Well, I’m in ‘Home Alone 2,’ and a lot of people mention it every year, especially around Christmas,” Trump said.
“They say ‘I just saw you.’ Especially young kids, they say, ‘I just saw you on the movie.’ They don’t see me on television as they do in the movie. But it’s been a good movie and I was a little bit younger, to put it mildly, and it was an honor to do it.”
Trump added that the movie became “one of the biggest” Christmas hits.
“So it’s an honor to be involved in something like that. You always like to see success,” he said.