Key Insights
- François Arnaud publicly defends his co-stars from criticism regarding their portrayals in Heated Rivalry.
- Jordan Firstman criticized the series for its representation of gay sex and the lead actors’ private lives.
- Authenticity in Representation: François advocates for diverse representations of queer individuals in media.
- Support for Co-Stars: He emphasizes the importance of protecting younger actors like Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams.
François Arnaud is opening up about his decision to publicly defend his Heated Rivalry co-stars.
Last week, I Love LA actor Jordan Firstman slammed the hot new gay hockey series, saying that the show is “not gay,” criticizing the sex scenes, and calling out lead stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie for not publicly revealing their sexual orientations.
François, 40, who publicly came out as bisexual in 2020, quickly spoke out to defend the show and his co-stars, 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?”
In a new interview, François explained why he decided to publicly speak out in defense of Connor, 25, and Hudson, 24.
Keep reading to find out more…“It was because I kind of resent, in general, the type of groupthink that—both in my personal life and in representation in the media—that this is how such and such people are,” François told Glamour. “Like, this is who we are as a group. I feel like there’s room for a multitude of types of representation of queer people.”
“Not every show has to tick all the boxes for everyone,” he explained. “My desire for authenticity is to the specific character in a specific context within the realm of a specific genre, which is not a documentary, you know? [Heated Rivalry] is based on a smutty romance novel. And there’s an aspect of fantasy, there’s an aspirational quality to that.”
As for defending Connor and Hudson, who have not publicly talked about their sexualities, François said, “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. 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.”
“Ultimately, what I want is for people who are not hiding that part of themselves to not be discriminated against in this industry, and not to just play gay roles but play any roles,” François added. “The day that happens, then there won’t be a problem, and then everybody will be open about it. If we keep punishing people for being ‘too this’ or ‘not that enough,’ that really makes people and makes me kind of want to get back in my shell.”
Also in the interview, François said that he’s spoken to Jordan since their incident first occurred.
“Jordan sent me a lovely message on Instagram the day after, and I said, ‘Absolutely no hard feelings,’” François shared. “People are allowed their opinion. Obviously, they’re also allowed to have a particular opinion in one particular moment and to let that out. I just didn’t want that conversation to just be one-sided, and I wanted to add my two cents to that.”
Then in an interview with Vulture, François shared more about why he’s so protective over Connor and Hudson.
“I wanted to stand up for my co-stars who have been famous for nine days,” he emphasized. “Can we just give them a break?”
If you didn’t see, François talked about filming those intimate scenes with Robbie G.K., who plays Kip in the show, and how they developed their on-screen relationship.
The Heated Rivalry season finale hits HBO Max at 12am ET on Friday, December 26.
