Where he leads, some “Gilmore Girls” fans may not follow.
Jimmy Fallon spotted something pretty interesting in actor Milo Ventimiglia’s background during a Zoom interview for “The Tonight Show” Monday night.
After Fallon pointed it out, the 43-year-old “This Is Us” star quickly jumped up and grabbed the framed certificate of his Emmy nomination with a little handwritten sign hanging from it. The sign was a nod to his former “Gilmore Girls” role as Jess Mariano — the bad boy ex of Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel).
“It says ‘I Love Dean 4 Ever,’” Ventimiglia proudly announced, referring to Dean Forester (Jared Padalecki). Dean was Rory’s first boyfriend, whom she dumped not long after Jess brooded his way into her heart.
“Is that rubbing it in his face?” Fallon asked of the sign, its placement on an Emmy nomination certificate, and its reference to Padalecki.
“No, no, not at all. Jared [Padalecki] and I are really good friends, and I made the sign for some photograph that somebody was looking for online or something,” the actor shared. “I made the sign, and after I made it, I just said, ‘Let me hang onto this because this is cool,’ and I literally stuck it right onto my Emmy notification that was on the wall.”
Ventimiglia has made it no secret that he’s Team Dean. At the 2015 Gilmore Girls reunion panel at the ATX TV Festival, he said: “I’ve always been Team Dean. Logan [Rory’s college boyfriend] was a dick.”
And why shouldn’t Ventimiglia be a fan of Dean? The guy built Rory a car, for crying out loud. The best thing Jess ever did was get Rory out of a rut by suggesting she write a book about her and her mother’s relationship.
So, OK, we’ll admit it: We Love Jess 4 Ever.
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