Are the actions or events in Ghostbusters II (1989) ever referenced in Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)?

Question

The film Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) contains many references to events shown in the original Ghostbusters (1984), which are historical events within the time line of the movie. However, I realised after watching it that it didn't make much reference to the events of Ghostbusters II (1989), even though some of those would also be quite widely known. (I'm thinking of the statue of Liberty scene in particular.)

It makes sense that Ghostbusters: Afterlife pays more attention to the original Ghostbusters, both because Ghostbusters was the bigger commercial success and because Ghostbusters: Afterlife builds directly on plot elements from Ghostbusters. However I'm wondering if there are also references to Ghostbusters II anywhere in the film.

TL;DR: are there any specific references to Ghostbusters II in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and if so, what are they?

Answer 1

There are some small references, but they also wanted to stick (mainly) with the iconic images from the original Ghostbusters film, noting that this is a Gozer film, not a Vigo film.

JR: And Ghostbusters II is canon.

People keep wondering if it is or not.

JR: No, Ghostbusters II, definitely canon. There are references to Ghostbusters II in Afterlife. We meet Ray working at Ray’s Occult. The toaster from Ghostbusters II is in the kitchen in the farmhouse. There’s actually lots of lost of Ghostbusters II details but nobody knows Ghostbusters II outside of Vigo the Carpathian and the Ghostbusters II logo. So there’s this assumption that it is not canon but it is definitely canon.

The second plot question, when we see the pictures of young Carrie Coon they are from the late 1980s. So Egon has a kid in Ghostbusters II?

JR: Oh, yeah.

Okay. We just don’t know that at the time when we’re watching Ghostbusters II.

JR: Correct.

_{^{In Which We Talk To Jason Reitman About Almost Everything Except ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’}}

They seem to have made some effort to give GB2 fans some red meat by adding a few of the film's prop items to a 'continuity cavalcade' in the barn where the Ecto-1 is being stored, and dotted around the house as we pan around rooms.

The dancing toaster seen in the kitchen [note, not the original prop, but made by the same company].

The Ecto-1a numberplate also makes a brief appearance in the barn [cut from the film, but shown on the DVD].

As does the box that the ooze came out of [cut from the film, but shown on the DVD].

and the Giga Meter.

The "we're back" lightboard from the side of the Ecto-1a.

And of course the style of ribbon connectors on the packs used by Ray, et al clearly indicates that they're from the GB2 era.