François Arnaud is standing by ‘Heated Rivalry’ and its cast amid online debate over the actors’ sexual orientations, saying he doesn’t want his co-stars to face the same pressure experienced by a ‘Heartstopper’ cast member. ➡️
The conversation started when Jordan Firstman from ‘I Love L.A.’ criticized the gay hockey series, calling it “not gay,” while the internet was also pressuring Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie to publicly disclose their sexual orientations.
Arnaud pushed back on social media, 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?”
Arnaud was especially vocal about defending Williams and Storrie, both of whom have stayed private about their sexualities. “The other thing was also standing up for my younger costars, who I feel have given so much to this show and brought so much of themselves,” he said. “I understand the idea of seeing yourself or the youth seeing themselves represented and seeing successful people who are outside the ‘norm’ or the majority and seeing them succeed. But also, I feel like we have to remember what happened to Kit Connor, for instance, on ‘Heartstopper’. Bullying people into coming out is not the kind of representation that we should want.” 👏👏👏
He also addressed the broader industry issue. “Ultimately, what I want is for people who are not hiding that part of themselves to not be discriminated against in this industry,” Arnaud said. “If we keep punishing people for being ‘too this’ or ‘not that enough,’ that really makes people… want to get back in my shell.”
In a separate interview, Arnaud summed up his stance: “I wanted to stand up for my co-stars who have been famous for nine days. Can we just give them a break?” 🥹
