The scene in question was from the “Gilmore Girls” episode “Keg! Max!” from April 2003. Patterson said the script called Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) and co-worker Sookie St. James (Melissa McCarthy) to discuss Luke’s butt.
“I realized it wasn’t OK, and it didn’t make me feel comfortable at all. It made me feel really embarrassed, actually. It’s infuriating to be called a this way – it’s infuriating – because you’re treated like an object,” Patterson said.
He added that they had shot several takes.
“It’s disturbing, and it’s disgusting, and I had to endure that throughout that scene and many takes,” he said. “It was all about butt, butt, butt, butt. When we weren’t filming, we were sitting around – people were still talking about butt, butt, butt. That was the most unsettling moment I ever had. never spent on this set, and couldn’t wait for this day to be over.”
Patterson said in retrospect that he wished he had talked about how he felt at the time.
“It’s as disgusting for women to objectify men as it is for men to objectify women, and it’s just as harmful,” he added. “Just because it was 2003 doesn’t mean it was OK. It’s never OK, and I didn’t feel comfortable doing it, and it pissed me off. And I don’t I never said anything, so I was mad at myself for never saying anything. . But I had this job, and I didn’t want to make waves.”