Claim:
Images authentically show three stars of the 1990 holiday classic film “Home Alone” — Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern — sitting together for coffee and dessert.
Rating:
Did Kevin McCallister finally call a truce with Harry and Marv?
In the days before Christmas 2025, online users shared a handful of images allegedly depicting a “Home Alone” cast reunion. The images showed three of the 1990 holiday classic’s stars — Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern — sitting together at a restaurant for coffee and dessert. The trio also starred in the 1992 sequel, “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.”
For example, on Dec. 16, a Facebook user posted (archived) one of the purported photos showing Culkin, Pesci and Stern with a caption that began, “REUNITED AFTER 35 YEARS.” The user added, “Seeing them together again feels like pure nostalgia and childhood memories hitting at once.”
(Movie Quotes/Facebook)
Users shared the cast reunion rumor and images on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Reddit (archived), Threads and X (archived). Some publishers reported the supposed reunion photos as authentic.
In short, the images were fake and generated with artificial intelligence. The Angel Cakes bakery in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, first posted (archived) the images to its Instagram account on Dec. 15 to promote its business and holiday items.
No credible news media outlets published information about a reunion between Culkin, Pesci and Stern. Had any such gathering taken place with multiple captured photos, outlets worldwide — in particular entertainment-focused websites — would have reported on the matter. No videos of the alleged reunion existed either, despite Angel Cakes’ Instagram account often featuring video clips.
We sent private Instagram messages to Angel Cakes to ask for the names of the AI tools used to create the images and will update this article if we receive further information.
Signs of AI in fake ‘Home Alone’ reunion images
The six fake photos in Angel Cake’s Instagram post exhibited various signs of AI. For example, Culkin’s right hand displayed discrepancies and inconsistencies with rings and wristwatches.
(@angelcakes.dubai/Instagram)
Another key sign of fakery was Pesci’s and Stern’s youthful appearances. Pesci, 82, and Stern, 68, appear much younger in the fake images than in genuine photos from 2020 and 2021, for example.
Five of the six images show the trio sitting down, while the remaining picture depicts them standing with a fourth person holding an Angel Cakes box. That image depicts Culkin as wearing a necklace that did not appear in any of the other images, as well as two close-together buttons at the bottom of his shirt instead of just one.
This fake photo shows one button at the very bottom of Culkin’s shirt, as well as no necklace. (Angel Cakes/Instagram)
Meanwhile, this image depicts Culkin with two close-together buttons at the bottom of his shirt, plus a necklace. (Angel Cakes/Instagram)
Angel Cakes previously posted (archived) other AI-generated images allegedly showing F1 racers enjoying the bakery and parking their race cars right outside.
In December 2024, Entertainment Weekly reported some of the actors playing the McCallister children in the first two films held a reunion of their own. Culkin, Pesci and Stern did not attend.
For further reading, Snopes has investigated many other rumors about “Home Alone,” including about Kevin McCallister’s airplane ticket being thrown in the garbage, as well as if the movie Kevin watches titled “Angels with Filthy Souls” was a real film.
