'Gilmore Girls' Star Scott Patterson Slams Show Over 'Disturbing' Scene

Gilmore Girls star Scott Patterson recently said he was not always happy with how he was treated on set.

Known as the rugged but loving diner owner, Patterson's character Luke Danes was a fan favorite and would eventually win the heart of lead character Lorelai (Lauren Graham).

But the actor slammed one particular day on set as of the hit network show as "disturbing and it's disgusting."

Patterson described a scene where Lorelai and Sookie (Melissa McCarthy) spend a lot of time fixating on his rear end after Sookie accidentally touched it.

As if that objectification was not bad enough, Patterson had to endure multiple takes of the scene and also alleged hearing ongoing comments from his co-worker about it.

"That was disturbing. I realized it wasn't OK, and it didn't make me feel comfortable at all. It made me feel really embarrassed, actually," Patterson said on the August 22 episode of his I Am All In podcast.

"It is infuriating to be treated that way — it is infuriating — because you're being treated like an object. It's disturbing, and it's disgusting. And I had to endure that through that entire scene and many takes."

"It was all about the butt, the butt, the butt, the butt. When we weren't filming, we were sitting down — people were still talking about the butt, the butt, the butt," he continued. "It was the most disturbing time I have ever spent on that set, and I couldn't wait for that day to be over."

In the podcast, Patterson rewatches episodes of Gilmore Girls to give his take on them.

The actor never brought up how he felt about the scene with creator Amy Sherman-Palladino because of a "rigid" atmosphere on set and also because he felt a "level of shame."

"Just because it was 2003 didn't mean it was OK," he said.

"It's never OK. And I didn't feel comfortable doing it and it pissed me off. I never said anything, so I was angry at myself for never saying anything. But, you know, I had this job and I didn't want to make waves and all that."

Patterson added: "It's as disgusting for women to objectify men as it for men to objectify women and it's as harmful."

The actor claimed to feel like a "meat stick" and "incredibly small" after that day on set, and wondered what impact it might have on his career.

"What are Academy members gonna say when they see this scene?" he questioned on the podcast.

"I mean, really, what am I involved in here? It really questioned why I was doing the show at the time.

"Somebody had to pay the price for that. And I'm still paying the price for it."

Patterson, however, did have kind words to say about Netflix's four episode revival of the show in 2016, revealing it was a "great job and [Gilmore Girls] means the world to me."

Gilmore Girls followed Lorelai and Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) in Stars Hollow, Connecticut.

Lorelai owned an inn with her best friend, Sookie and Rory was a smart student who graduated high school to attend Yale, where she worked toward an English degree and became a journalist.

The show began in 2000 and was successful through the series finale in 2007. The comedy-drama series returned in 2016 for a reboot on Netflix called Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life and received over 5.9 million viewers in the first three days.

Newsweek has reached out to Palldino-Sherman for comment.