Fox Business anchor Charles Payne joked on Friday morning that the Canadian Broadcast Corporation’s decision to edit out Donald Trump’s cameo in Home Alone 2 in 2014 shows that the country had “Trump Derangement Syndrome” before anyone else.
In case you missed it, an utterly ridiculous controversy sprung up this week when someone noticed that a CBC broadcast of the Macaulay Culkin Christmas film didn’t include Trump’s seven-second appearance, sparking outrage from the right as they accused Canada of purposely cutting out the scene as a ding to the president.
While the CBC noted the axed scene was part of an effort to make time for commercials, and it was revealed these edits had existed since at least 2014, Fox News personalities weren’t buying the explanations. On Thursday’s Fox & Friends, for example, co-hosts Ed Henry and Katie Pavlich claimed it was “censorship” due to “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Trump, meanwhile, amplified Fox’s criticism on Twitter while further accusing (falsely) the Canadian prime minister of editing the film as retaliation over tariffs.
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During Friday’s broadcast of Varney and Co., Payne—who served as the show’s guest anchor—parroted some of the criticism of his Fox colleagues and the president himself, even while a Fox Business reporter noted that the current “narrative” was wrong.
Highlighting Trump’s tweets on the subject, which Payne laughed at, Fox Business correspondent Kristina Partsinevelos explained that Trump was cut out of the film five years ago as part of a larger eight-minute edit by the CBC.
“So they had Trump derangement syndrome before everyone else?” Payne asked, prompting Partsinevelos to push back. (She had already clashed with Fox colleagues on Thursday over the “controversy,” claiming they were “fulfilling a stereotype with this narrative.”)
“But no, that’s the narrative—that’s unfortunately not the case,” she exclaimed. “This movie was a little too long. They chopped off eight minutes. This is seriously the case. I’m not trying to spin it or anything. This is the story here!”
While Partsinevelos continued to insist that this was just an innocent example of a TV station cutting out excess material to fit within a broadcast time, the control room repeatedly played a “womp womp” sound effect.
“The movie will never be the same again,” Payne lamented as Partsinevelos, shaking her head, sighed: “Really?”
Payne wasn’t the only on-air Fox personality to express skepticism on Friday over Trump’s cameo being cut. During Fox News’ America’s Newsroom, “straight news” anchors Leland Vittert and Molly Line sarcastically declared “what a coincidence” over the axed scene, apparently believing only that portion—and not another eight minutes—was edited out.
