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Several key castmembers and the director of hit Canadian show Heated Rivalry have condemned so-called “fans” using hateful language towards them and their co-stars.
Hudson Williams, 25, who plays the lead role of Shane Hollander in the gay ice hockey romance, shared the post to his Instagram Story on Monday (9 March).
“Don’t call yourself a fan if you share racist, homophobic, biphobic, misogynistic, ageist, ableist, parasocial [or] bigoted comments of any kind,” the message said.
“None of us need your hateful ‘love’.”
The message added: “We all respect and support and love each other and are on the same side. If you can’t accept that gtfoh [get the f*** out of here].”
Williams’s co-star François Arnaud, 40, who plays the character of Scott Hunter in the same series, shared the same post to his own Instagram Stories.
Robbie Graham-Kuntz, who stars as Kip, the love interest of Arnaud’s character, also shared the post with a heart emoji next to their words, as did show creator/director Jacob Tierney and author Rachel Reid, who wrote the original Heated Rivalry books.
Heated Rivalry, whose central storyline follows the secret relationship between rival ice hockey players Shane and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), has become a phenomenon around the world, attracting huge praise for its performances, storyline and depiction of same-sex relationships.
However, much has also been made of the attention it has brought to the cast, some of whom were complete unknowns before the first series was released in December last year.
Williams, Storrie and Arnaud in particular have been hounded by paparazzi and fans, while also being bombarded with messages speculating about every aspect of their personal lives.
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The statement shared by Williams appeared to acknowledge fan-driven rumours attempting to root out any perceived tensions between him and his castmates.
Arnaud has also been the subject of online abuse over unsubstantiated speculation that he and Storrie, 25, are dating. During an interview with Andy Cohen last month, he retorted “none of your f***ing business” when the chat-show host attempted to pry about his dating life.
Despite online rumours about the relationships between cast members, all involved in the show have consistently publicly voiced their support for one another through their various TV appearances and interviews.
Storrie was joined by Arnaud and their co-stars Nadine Bhabha, Christina Chang and Graham-Kuntz, along with Tierney and executive producer Brendan Brasy, at the GLAAD Media Awards last week – where they picked up the prize for Outstanding New TV Series.
Williams also turned up to support Storrie as he made his debut hosting Saturday Night Live earlier this month.
Writing for The Independent after Heated Rivalry was released in the UK, Adam White accused the more obsessive among the show’s fans of sucking the fun out of it.
“Heated Rivalry has become exhausting to talk about and think about, primarily because such a loud bulk of its fandom – an army of digital natives that seems to cross gender, age and sexuality – have come to treat the show as practically sacrosanct,” he wrote.
“Dissenting critics have been aggressively piled-on across social media, while screaming devotion to the show’s two stars seems poised on a cliff edge, as Storrie and Williams’s opinions, personal lives and digital footprints are inspected with a fine tooth comb for anything remotely spiky or clumsily worded.”
