Although Heated Rivalry has quickly become an international hit with a Season 2 renewal, not everyone is a fan of the steamy gay hockey romance.
Following Jordan Firstman‘s criticism of the Crave/HBO Max show’s sex scenes, stars Hudson Williams and François Arnaud responded to the I Love LA actor’s comment that their depiction of gay intimacy is “not how gay people f*ck.”
“Is there only one way to have ‘authentic’ gay sex on tv?” asked Arnaud in an Instagram comment. “Should the sex that closeted hockey players have look like the sex that sceney LA gay guys have?”
Williams took the high road on his Instagram Story. “But truly go watch I Love LA! Jordan and the cast are great!!” he wrote.
The stars’ posts come after Firstman compared them to the sex scenes on his own HBO Max show, which he said a “straight guy could not write,” despite the fact that Heated Rivalry creator, writer and director Jacob Tierney being openly gay.
“Yeah, we’re going for it. It’s gay,” he told Vulture. “I’m sorry, I watched those first two episodes of Heated Rivalry, and it’s just not gay. It’s not how gay people f*ck. There’s so few things that actually show gay sex.”
Firstman later added that “a lot of people just want entertainment or to see two straight hockey players pretending to be gay and f*cking.”
After Heated Rivalry‘s two-episode premiere last month, LGBTQ fans have passionately taken to the show’s depiction of gay intimacy in the adaptation of Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novel series.
Connor Storrie as Ilya Rozanov and Hudson Williams as Shane Hollander in ‘Heated Rivalry’ (Sabrina Lantos)
Williams previously told Deadline, “The sex scenes, we rehearse them so heavily and we knew what we were gonna do going in, that they’re also a lot of fun.”
“Yeah, it’s a dance, added his romantic lead Connor Storrie.
Arnaud explained to Deadline, “They chose people who believed in the usefulness of these scenes to tell that story. … I liked that our scenes with Kip [played by Robbie GK] were showing another side of sexuality, which is tentative and repressed and like role-play almost, and it’s just two people who are actually just giving in, and the joy of that.”
