The Real Reason Ben Stiller Will Never Cut Donald Trump's Zoolander Cameo

Long before he got into politics, Donald Trump had always expressed an interest in being in front of the camera. Before he began hosting "The Apprentice" in 2004, Trump had a number of cameos in projects like "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York," "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," and "The Little Rascals." Indeed, it was only in 2021 that the former president rescinded his SAG-AFTRA membership (the union was set to begin expulsion proceedings in the wake of the January 6 insurrection).

Since Trump moved into the political arena, some TV and film lovers would rather watch reruns of "The Nanny" without looking upon his orange visage. Fans of "Zoolander" have been especially vocal in that capacity, requesting that Trump be scrubbed from the 2001 comedy. A number of celebrities chime in near the beginning of the movie to offer their thoughts on male model Derek Zoolander, including Trump, who says, "Look, without Derek Zoolander, male modeling wouldn't be what it is today."

"I've had people reach out to me and say, you should edit Donald Trump out of 'Zoolander,'" Ben Stiller said on an episode of The Daily Beast's podcast "The New Abnormal" (via Indiewire). "But at the end of the day, that was a time when that [existed] and that happened ...There were so many movies [back then] that had a silly cameo from Donald Trump. He represented a certain thing."

In Trump's red carpet scene, then-E! News personality Steve Kmetko asks a number of celebs what they think of Zoolander, including Victoria Beckham, Tom Ford, Christian Slater, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Natalie Portman. Trump, as Stiller explained, serves to indicate the scope of Zoolander's fame: real estate moguls have as much a stake in the guy as actors and fashion designers. Moreover, Trump had a vested interest in the intersection of money and, to quote Zoolander, being really, really, ridiculously good-looking: until his presidency, Trump was a longtime producer of the Miss Universe broadcast.

Despite only appearing in a few seconds of "Zoolander," Trump kept his finger on the pulse of the film and its 2016 sequel, even chit-chatting with former MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews about its shortcomings. Amid a conversation about women's reproduction rights and nuclear war, Trump switched topics to "Zoolander 2" during the commercial break. Matthews shared the details later on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," where Stiller caught wind of Trump's criticism.

"Apparently Trump said it didn't bomb because it wasn't funny or anything, but because nobody cares about male models anymore in the zeitgeist," Stiller said at the 2017 Nantucket Film Festival (via Page Six). "And all I'm thinking is ... a) Trump's right, maybe we should go a little easier on him on this whole Russia thing. And b) why are you doing this, Chris? Why are you dredging up my pain!?"