Canada's national
public broadcaster confirmed Thursday it had cut out US President Donald
Trump's cameo from the movie "Home Alone 2", but said after a social
media outcry that the edit was made before he was elected. When the CBC
recently aired the 1992 Christmas film, some viewers and Canadian media outlets
noticed Trump's scene had been cut out and wanted to know why - especially
because the US leader had said on Tuesday it was an "honor" to be
involved in the movie.

"As is often
the case with feature films adapted for television, 'Home Alone 2' was edited
for time," said CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson. "The scene with Donald
Trump was one of several that were cut from the movie as none of them were
integral to the plot. These edits were done in 2014, when we first acquired the
film and before Mr Trump was elected president" in 2016, Thompson said.

Many social media
users accused the CBC of making a politically motivated decision, and Trump's
son Donald Trump Jr tweeted that he thought the move was "pathetic".
But the US president seemed to find the kerfuffle amusing, taking to Twitter on
Thursday night to quip about his Canadian counterpart: "I guess Justin T
doesn't much like my making him pay up on NATO or Trade!" "The movie
will never be the same!" Trump lamented, before clarifying "(Just
kidding.)"

Trump appears
very briefly in "Home Alone 2". Young Kevin McCallister (Macaulay
Culkin), forgotten by his family, struggles to navigate the gilded hotel where
he's staying for the holidays. He stops a man wearing a long black overcoat and
a red tie to ask him how to get to the lobby. "Down the hall and to the
left," says Donald Trump. The real estate mogul had purchased the Plaza
Hotel in New York - the setting of many movie scenes, including several in
"Home Alone 2" - at the start of the 1990s. - AFP