Heated Rivalry Actor Reacts to Jordan Firstman’s Criticism of Show

Jordan Firstman is not among the many fans of Heated Rivalry.

Firstman, 34, slammed the hit HBO Max series — which stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie as hockey players involved in a steamy relationship off the ice — during an interview with Vulture published on Thursday, December 11. 

Vulture’s Jason P. Frank asked Firstman, who plays Charlie Cohen in the HBO comedy I Love LA, about a “legitimately casual” sex tape story line in that show, calling it “such a contrast to something like Heated Rivalry, which is so posed.”

The actor responded, “Yeah, we’re going for it. It’s gay. 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***. There’s so few things that actually show gay sex.”

Frank told Firstman that he thought his 2023 film Rotting in the Sun “was probably the best gay movie of the decade in terms of feeling honest about what gay life is like.”

“But they want to see Heated Rivalry,” Firstman countered. “I go to art to be confronted and to think, but a lot of people just want entertainment or to see two straight hockey players pretending to be gay and f***ing.”

Frank mentioned that neither of the stars have “spoken about their sexuality, so either one could be gay.”

Firstman responded: “Then you know what? I am one of those bitches who says, ‘Then say it.’ A gay guy would say it. I don’t respect you because you care too much about your career and what’s going to happen if people think you’re gay.”

François Arnaud, who portrays athlete Scott Hunter in Heated Rivalry, addressed Firstman’s remarks in a comment via Instagram on Friday, December 12, writing, “Is there only one way to have ‘authentic’ gay sex on tv? Should the sex that closeted hockey players have look like the sex that sceney LA gay guys have?”

Meanwhile, Williams, 24, reposted Arnaud’s comment in his Instagram Stories and graciously remarked, “but truly go watch ‘I Love LA’! Jordan and the cast are great!!”

Heated Rivalry became an instant success when it debuted in late November. Jacob Tierney created the six-episode series based on Rachel Reid’s Game Changer books, and on December 12, it was renewed for a second season. 

Williams plays Shane Hollander and Storrie, 25, is Ilya Rozanov. 

“They were essentially cast at the same time. It was very clear to us that we needed to find Shane and Ilya together,” Tierney told Out last month. “This show lives and dies with them, so we needed to make sure that this worked together. There are terrific actors who are in, you know… They’re just in different shows. You need to find the people who are going to be together in the same show, and that’s what the two of them had quite instantly.”

Earlier this month, Tierney, 46, shut down a question about the actor’s real-life sexualities, telling LGBTQ+ magazine Xtra, “I don’t think there’s any reason to get into that stuff. I’ll tell you something about the casting of both of these roles. You can’t ask questions like that when you’re casting, right? It’s actually against the law. So what you have to gauge is somebody’s enthusiasm and willingness to do the work.”

He added, “And that’s what’s so impressive about both of these guys is they came into this being like, ‘Yeah, we’re here to do this, and we are here to make this story feel authentic and to be as real as possible.’ They f***ing hit it out of the park.”