Heated Rivalry Star Dares NHL To Do More Than Profit From The Series

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Kip and Scott about to kiss in Heated Rivalry episode 3.

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Heated Rivalry star, François Arnaud, is optimistic that the show’s popularity could inspire meaningful change in the NHL.

The league has embraced Heated Rivalry's success by promoting clips from the series and engaging with its fans on social media. While this is a good start, Arnaud, who portrays Scott Hunter in the hit sports drama, hopes that the industry will do more than just profit off the popularity of the show.

In an interview with SiriusXM’s Radio Andy, the actor said that he hopes the attention the NHL is receiving translates into genuine support for LGBTQ+ inclusion in sports and the community as a whole. He also mentioned that Heated Rivalry even got recognition from major teams such as the Boston Bruins. Teams with huge fanbases could definitely foster diversity.

Their sales are going up apparently, and the Boston Bruins tagged us in different clips online, and it’s getting incredible traction. I’m just hoping that it’s backed up by actual openness to diversity.

Arnaud also criticized the NHL for its apparent hypocrisy. The Heated Rivalry star acknowledged that since the sport itself is gaining more attention, the teams are obviously going to benefit from it. However, it's wrong to profit from something while actively going against it at the same time.

According to Arnaud, the league actually banned its players from wearing Pride bands. So, the actor said they can put on a show for fans of the series, but they are being disingenuous if they don't do anything to reverse the harm that they may have caused. He added that the NHL has no business using the show as free publicity until they make an effort to create real change.

I think they banned [players] from wearing a Pride band a few years ago. So like, if you’re gonna use our name, back it up with real-life sh*t.

Heated Rivalry follows the story of two rival professional hockey players, Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), who develop romantic feelings for each other. The show is based on a book titled Game Changers by Rachel Reid.

Heated Rivalry season 1 is available to stream on HBO Max. Season 2 has been confirmed, but does not have an official release date at the time of this article's publication.