In separate social media announcements, two very different yet divisive figures attempted to put to rest some rumors about their roles in the 1992 film, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. In one case, alleged phone hacker and TV host Piers Morgan denied that he donned drag to play a role in the 31-year-old movie. And in another, indicted former president Donald Trump claimed that he was begged to appear in the film, even though his busy schedule made that cameo a burden.

We'll begin with Morgan, a deeply problematic person who—thanks to the low bar set by a certain aspiring dictator—comes across as a cool guy by comparison. So here's the deal: Since 2018, when son Spencer Morgan jokingly tweeted that his dad played Home Alone 2's iconic Pigeon Lady, the rumor has circulated that underneath that hat and wig, we'll find Morgan as a kind of proto-Mrs. Doubtfire. 

When one looks at a photo comparison of the two, one can see where the joke began, but of course, it's nonsense. The Pigeon Lady, an unhoused woman who helps free Macaulay Culkin's character, Kevin, from the movie's villains, was played by Academy Award winner Brenda Fricker, a former Irish Times journalist and the first Irish person to win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar (for her role as Bridget Fagan Brown in My Left Foot).

While Morgan, an arguable former journalist himself, didn't credit Fricker for her work in the film, he did remind followers that the rumor that he played the Central Park resident is false. Morgan, who would have been a 27-year-old tabloid reporter at Home Alone 2's release, tweeted “It's Not. Me." regarding the claim, Mediaite reported this morning. It's a concise response compared to the one Morgan made in 2020, when, per the Independent, he was confronted with the ongoing conflation while on Good Morning Britain. “Why does this keep coming around? That is not me," Morgan said then through a laugh. "I am not the bag lady in Home Alone 2.”

2020 is also the year that Home Alone 2 director Chris Columbus first claimed that the then-outgoing president had “bullied” his way onto the set of the movie, in which he has a cameo. Speaking with Business Insider for the 30th anniversary of the first Home Alone film, Columbus said that for Home Alone 2, “we approached The Plaza Hotel, which Trump owned at the time, because we wanted to shoot in the lobby. We couldn't rebuild The Plaza on a soundstage.”

“Trump said OK,” Columbus said “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, and when we screened it for the first time the oddest thing happened: People cheered when Trump showed up on-screen. 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.”

Why the remarks from this three-year-old interview captured Trump's recent attention is anyone's guess. After all, it's not like he's ever been accused of being thin-skinned, or of holding a grudge! But for whatever reason, the former president took to his social media platform, Truth Social on Wednesday, to put those extremely important, three-year-old allegations to rest.

“Thirty years ago (how time flies!), Director Chris Columbus, and others, were begging me to make a cameo appearance in Home Alone 2,” Trump began. “They rented the Plaza Hotel in New York, which I owned at the time. I was very busy, and didn’t want to do it. They were very nice, but above all, persistent. I agreed, and the rest is history!”

“That little cameo took off like a rocket, and the movie was a big success, and still is, especially around Christmas time. People call me whenever it is aired. Now, however, 30 years later, Columbus (what was his real name?) put out a statement that I bullied myself into the movie.” 

We'll break for a moment to note that the “real name” of Home Alone 2 director Chris Columbus is Chris Columbus. Is the former president gearing up to ask for his birth certificate? 

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Trump continued regarding the bullying claims, understandably angry that anyone would ever think of him as a bully. “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! Just another Hollywood guy from the past looking for a quick fix of Trump publicity for himself!"

Unfortunately, Trump did not address the claims from other “Hollywood guys” that he'd behaved similarly on their sets. According to a 2017 interview with actor Chris O’Donnell, Trump also demanded a scene in another 31-year-old movie, Scent of a Woman.

“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 said of the film, referring then to Marla Maples, Trump's wife from 1993–1999. The couple's scene didn't make it into the final film, O'Donnell said.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that same year, actor Matt Damon confirmed O"Donnell's account. When asked by interviewer Stephen Galloway if he'd ever met Trump, Damon said “No. The deal was that if you wanted to shoot in one of his buildings, you had to write him in a part.”

“Martin Brest had to write something in Scent of a Woman — and the whole crew was in on it," Damon said. "You have to waste an hour of your day with a bullshit 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.”