Director Chris Columbus lamented earlier this year that he couldn’t remove Donald Trump’s cameo from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York: “If I cut it,” he said, “I’ll probably be sent out of the country.”
The future President and his First Lady, Melania, also made a brief appearance in 2001’s Zoolander, endorsing the film’s main character. “Look, without Derek Zoolander, male modeling wouldn’t be what it is today,” Trump told a reporter in the film.
Like Columbus, director Ben Stiller says he isn’t removing Trump from his comedy, although for different reasons. “I’ve had people reach out to me and say, ‘You should edit Donald Trump out of Zoolander,’ but at the end of the day, that was a time that existed and that happened,” he told Radio Times. (For what it’s worth, Trump hated the comedy’s sequel, Zoolander 2, according to Page Six. He told Chris Matthews that it bombed because nobody cares about male models anymore. I’m sure the absence of another Trump cameo had nothing to do with the bad review.)
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It’s not the first time Stiller has discussed Trump’s appearance in the original Zoolander, pointing out that such nods were practically a trope back then. “There were so many movies that had a silly cameo from Donald Trump,” Stiller said on the Last Laugh podcast in 2020. “He represented a certain thing.”
That’s not an exaggeration. In addition to Zoolander and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Trump showed up in movies like Two Weeks Notice, The Little Rascals and Celebrity, as well as on sitcoms like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Spin City and The Drew Carey Show. Three seconds of Trump was comedy shorthand for “Rich Guy Was Here,” like having the Monopoly guy saunter through the frame tipping his top hat.
Those appearances used to be funny-ish, but Stiller acknowledges that Trump’s second go-round as President presents challenges for current-day comedy. “We live in a world where taking chances with comedy is more challenging,” he said. “You’re seeing that front and center in our country.”
Without naming names, Stiller was addressing the cancellations — temporary and permanent — of late-night comedians who lampoon the President. Back in the Zoolander days, Stiller didn’t have to worry about the administration siccing the FCC on his movie studio if a joke struck too close to home.
Given the current reality, Stiller challenged his fellow funny people to keep up the heat. “I think it’s important that comedians keep doing what they’re doing, speaking truth to power and being free to say what they want,” he said. “That’s the most important thing.”
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