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I Love LA star Jordan Firstman is not shying away from the backlash he’s received for criticizing the gay love scenes in HBO Max show Heated Rivalry.
“I love Heated Rivalry and ultimately I’m a f***** who can’t shut the f*** up, but I’m gonna get better at that,” Firstman, 34, quipped via his Instagram Story on Saturday, December 13.
Firstman revealed that he’d received mean-spirited trolling since his comments about Heated Rivalry went viral, including one message calling him “ugly and fat.”
“Not sure I deserve thousands of these messages but hey I do agree some days,” he added.
Controversy arose earlier this week when Firstman was asked in a Vulture profile about the way I Love LA’s “casual” sex tape storyline differed from a show like Heated Rivalry. (Heated Rivalry stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie as ice hockey players who develop a sexual connection off the ice.)
“Yeah, we’re going for it. It’s gay,” Firstman replied in an interview published on Thursday, December 11. “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.”
Vulture journalist Jason P. Frank singled out Firstman’s 2023 movie Rotting in the Sun as “the best gay movie of the decade in terms of feeling honest about what gay life is like,” though the actor himself countered that audiences still “want to see Heated Rivalry.”
“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,” he added.
When Frank clarified that neither of Heated Rivalry’s leads have spoken about their sexuality, Firstman quipped: “Then you know what? I am one of those bitches who says, ‘Then say it.’ A gay guy would say it.”
Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie in ‘Heated Rivalry’ Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max
“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,” he went on.
Firstman’s criticism of Heated Rivalry drew responses from two of the HBO Max show’s cast members.
Replying to a news article about Firstman’s comments, François Arnaud — who plays hockey star Scott Hunter on Heated Rivalry — wrote via Instagram on Friday, December 12: “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?””
Williams, 24, reposted his costar’s clap-back but took a more light-hearted approach to Firstman’s Heated Rivalry critique.
“But truly go watch I Love LA! Jordan and the cast are great!!” Williams suggested.
Heated Rivalry is based on Rachel Reid‘s Game Changers series of novels and has been adapted for TV by Letterkenny filmmaker Jacob Tierney. Earlier this month, Tierney, 46, refused to engage with a question about Williams and Storrie’s real-life sexuality during a discussion with LGBTQ+ magazine Xtra.
“I don’t think there’s any reason to get into that stuff,” the writer-director explained. “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.”
HBO’s Heated Rivalry is captivating audiences — but what did the TV adaptation change from Rachel Reid‘s Game Changers book series? Based on the hit book franchise, Heated Rivalry follows two rival professional hockey players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), whose animosity on the ice is just a front for a […]
He concluded, “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.”
Both I Love LA and Heated Rivalry are faring well with audiences, as second seasons of the two shows have already been ordered by HBO Max.
“Watching our show become an international phenomenon has been extraordinary,” Tierney and Heated Rivalry executive producer Brendan Brady said in a joint statement on Thursday. “We’re profoundly grateful to everyone that has been on this journey with us. Being renewed for a second season so early is a true honor, and we can’t wait to bring you even more of what you love.”
I Love LA and Heated Rivalry are available to stream now on HBO Max.
