IF YOU SPENT your Christmas holidays binge-watching the Home Alone franchise on Disney+, you were probably stunned to see the familiar off-white dome of former President Donald Trump wandering through New York City’s Plaza Hotel lobby at the beginning of Home Alone 2. (It’s the scene where Kevin asks him for directions, and Trump does a double-take before giving them to him.)

In a new interview with Business Insider, Home Alone 2 director Chris Columbus has finally explained that baffling cameo. Basically, he says, Trump, who then owned the Plaza Hotel, refused to let the crew film there unless they gave him a small role in the film.

According to Columbus, when the crew approached the Plaza Hotel for permission to shoot its iconic lobby, Trump had an unusual stipulation. In addition to demanding a standard fee, he also reportedly 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,” Columbus told BI. “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.”