OPINION: Heated Rivalry Fans Have A Serious Homophobia Problem

The Heated Rivalry fandom is back in the news, thanks to the stars of the show being forced to put statements out on their social media forcefully telling off their rabid fans for being *deep breath* racist, homophobic, biphobic, misogynist, ageist, ableist, parasocial, and finally, bigoted.

“None of us need your hateful ‘love,'” wrote actors Hudson Williams and Francois Arnaud, in a joint statement on Instagram.

While this is obviously a broadside against a raft of issues these poor boys have had to endure since becoming obscenely famous after the runaway success of the show, it’s worth looking into the homophobia in particular (which I will use as an umbrella term in this particular instance, but much of the homophobic rhetoric is all rolled in together with biphobia and transphobia), due to the fact that it’s, well, an incredibly queer show about queer hockey men who smooch and fuck a lot.

Harrison Browne, the trans former pro hockey player who makes a cameo as a player on the show, shared Williams and Arnaud’s statement and took the opportunity to also call attention to transphobic comments by sharing screenshots of hateful tweets that have been made about him due to his casting.

If there’s one thing you can count on, as regular as the phases of the moon or the sun setting or a dog knowing that it’s dinnertime, it’s massive homophobic backlash to any queer representation in TV and film. We’re depressingly used to conservative backlash to men kissing, or a lesbian being included in a story, or a trans character making the mistake of existing. But, in a way, you can take comfort in the fact that fundamentalist Christians, TERFS and weird MAGA losers are being homophobic — that’s kinda their whole thing.

Which is why the rampant and unrepentant homophobia from supposed supporters of the show is so upsetting. They’re meant to be on our side.

From the very beginning of the show’s success, we’ve seen feverish speculation about the cast’s sexualities, with Connor Storrie (Ilya Rozanov) and Hudson Williams (Shane Hollander) bearing the brunt of it. Much of this revolved around gossip, with Williams pushing back after the celebrity gossip Instagram Deuxmoi claimed he had a girlfriend, saying “You know what, I’ve grown quite unfond of you deuxmoi.”

But it was also fan-led, with their comments sections full of demands that they come out, and allegations of “queerbaiting”. The author of the books, Rachel Reid, was even forced to address her sexuality publicly. There’s a purity test logic to all of this – you have to be THIS gay to play a gay character, and they define the rules of how that manifests.

 

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The show’s creator, Jacob Tierney, addressed the question of the lead’s sexualities in a November interview : “You can’t ask questions like that when you’re casting, right? It’s actually against the law” – which only seemed to inflame the fandom further, with many apparently believing this to mean there was something shameful to hide.

I’m going to say it slowly and clearly like I’m gentle-parenting in a loud cafe: a person’s sexuality (and actors are people too, mostly) is nobody’s business but their own, and you are never entitled to that knowledge. Bullying and forcing them to publicly come out is homophobic harassment, and is the complete opposite of the empowering choice that coming out should be for queer people.

This kind of speculation and disgusting entitlement to actor’s privacy around their sexuality is unfortunately not isolated – it’s happened in recent years with Harry Styles, Shawn Mendes, and even a deranged widespread Taylor Swift conspiracy. Heartstopper star Kit Connors even felt bullied enough by this on social media that he came out as bisexual against his will, saying “congrats for forcing an 18 year old to out himself. i think some of you missed the point of the show. bye”.

You could make the argument that celebrities pay this as a price for fame, but the same behaviour spreads into rhetoric in the real world. It turns into gatekeeping how sexualities are performed in public, and creates a hierarchy of queerness – a right or a wrong way to actually be queer.

Speaking to Vulture early in his meteoric rise to fame, Connor Storrie addressed the scrutiny saying:

“I feel honoured to be able to bring someone to life that so many people feel seen, understood, and represented by,” he said. “I think that transcends whoever I’m sleeping with in my real life.”

Connor Storrie and François Arnaud attend W Magazine, Charli xcx & Saint Laurent’s Grammys After Party

📸: Myles Hendrik pic.twitter.com/BdI1eH2aCn

— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) February 2, 2026

But things escalated quickly, with certain elements of the fandom moving on from simply demanding that the cast come out, and instead forming “teams” after rumours began to swirl that Connor Storrie and Francois Arnaud (Scott Hunter) were dating, inflamed by absolutely gorgeous photos of the absolute dreamboats together at various events. Importantly, Arnaud was the only out cast member of the show, coming out as bisexual in 2020.

“For me, personally, it got to a point where I don’t want to actively hide anything because it doesn’t feel worth it to me,” he said in a Vulture interview, after reaffirming that actors don’t owe their private lives to fans. “I’m not ashamed, and I don’t want to perpetuate the idea that my sexuality is something shameful. It’s important for me to just be myself.”

Parasocial fans who not only felt entitled to the cast’s sexualities, but also to imagined scenarios where actors Storrie and Williams – who play lovers IN THE FICTIONAL SHOW – should also be dating in real life, immediately turned on Arnaud, in some of the most intense online bullying yet.

And most of it was intensely homophobic (and specifically biphobic), with fans “justifying” their hatred of the 40-year-old actor because he was a “pedo” and a “groomer” for allegedly dating Storrie, who is 26. This is probably where the “ageism” came into it too, with much of the presumably young fandom consistently calling Arnaud a “hag”.

It should be immediately obvious how damaging it is to weaponise terms used against the LGBTQIA+ community, which have historically been used to attack gay and bi men, against an out and proud bisexual man.

It should be obvious that no make-believe justification based on fictional characters should lead to this kind of blatant biphobia. Much of the hatred against Arnaud also relied on classic biphobic tropes, such as saying he would “use” Storrie for fame and then leave him for a woman – which again shows why this entitlement to how people present their sexualities leads to a harmful policing of “correct” ways of being queer. ACAB, including weirdos who are cops about how to be gay.

Arnaud was right when he described this behaviour in Men’s Health as a “mass psychosis event”.

Most articles about deranged fandoms will usually take time to point out that the bad behaviour of a few doesn’t define the whole, and wax lyrical about the affirming community aspect of fandoms, often in a somewhat futile attempt to forestall a wave of bullying and harassment coming their own way.It’s also pointed out how young these fandoms often are too – with Hudson Williams even saying he only respects the opinions of people who have a “developed frontal cortex.” But none of this means this kind of abusive behaviour shouldn’t be called out.

I too believe the children are our future, but in a Sarah Connor way, where I’m deeply afraid.

Heated Rivalry is a show that is obviously mostly about how hot it is when extremely sexy hockey players blow each other’s backs out, but it’s also a very tender romance, and incredibly affecting tale of star athletes coming out publicly as queer in order to find love. It seems deranged to think that anyone could watch the much lauded episode five of the show, which features one of the most moving coming out scenes AND romantic public confessions of love I’ve ever seen, and completely miss the point of the show.

But many so-called fans do, and it comes down to one main issue: a parasocial, rabid entitlement to actors’ sexualities — one that they probably don’t think is homophobic, but it just manifestly is.