Actor Patrick Stewart Defends Bakery that Refused Gay Wedding Cake

Actor Patrick Stewart has reportedly spoken out in support of a U.K. bakery that refused to make a cake for a same sex wedding.

Stewart, who has starred in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and the "X-Men" film series, recently told BBC's Newsnight that he supports a bakery in Northern Ireland that had recently refused to bake a cake in support of same-sex marriage.

"Finally I found myself on the side of the bakers," he told Newsnight. "It was not because this was a gay couple they objected, it was not because they were going to be celebrating some kind of marriage, it was the actual words on the cake they objected to, they found them offensive."

"I would support their right to say, 'No, this is personally offensive to my beliefs, I [will] not do it.' But I feel bad for them that it cost them [500] quid ($736)," Stewart added.

Ashers Bakery in Northern Ireland was recently found guilty of discrimination after the bakery's owners refused to print the words "support gay marriage" on a cake with an image of Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie on the cake.

According to The Telegraph, the family who owns the bakery, the McArthur family, were reportedly fined $555 for their decision to refuse to bake the cake, although the small business-owning family has said they plan to appeal the decision of the court that determined they had discriminated against the same-sex marriage cause.