Heated Rivalry's Sex Scenes Were Heavily Criticized, And The Cast Has Responded

Over the last few weeks, Heated Rivalry has received acclaim from both fans and critics alike. Many have praised this spicy LGBTQ+ hockey romance, and there’s been a lot of talk about how it depicts the sexual relationship between Russian hockey player Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and Canadian hockey player Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams). However, I Love LA star Jordan Firstman made headlines as he heavily criticized the sex scenes in this new series, and now, a few of the stars have responded.

What I Love LA’s Jordan Firstman Said About Heated Rivalry’s Sex Scenes

Both Heated Rivalry and I Love LA feature sexual scenes, and as both series have been airing on the 2025 TV schedule, there’s been a lot of talk about them. So, with that being said, Jordan Firstman, who plays Charlie in I Love LA, was asked during an interview with Vulture about a scene he had involving a sex tape.

The journalist noted that the sequence was “legitimately casual,” and then said that it was “such a contrast” to the "posed" sex scenes in Heated Rivalry. In response, the actor criticized those scenes in the book-to-screen adaptation of Rachel Reid’s novel, explaining:

As the interview went on, Firstman spoke a lot about being gay and telling stories about gay people. When the journalist noted that the movie Rotting was the best gay film of the decade when it came to “feeling honest about what gay life is like,” the I Love LA actor brought up Heated Rivalry again, saying:

The journalist then noted that neither Storrie nor Williams has revealed their sexualities publicly, with Heated Rivalry showrunner Jacob Tierney saying there’s no reason to either. Firstman pushed back on that, saying:

Now, after all of that made headlines right around the time Episode 4 of Heated Rivalry premiered, two of the hockey romance’s stars responded.

How The Heated Rivalry Cast Responded To The Criticism

In the aftermath of Firstman’s comments, François Arnaud, who plays Scott, a gay hockey player who was the focus of Episode 3, responded. In the comments section on Just Jared’s Instagram post about these criticisms, he posted two questions about there being more than one way to portray gay sex on TV. The Scott actor wrote:

After that comment, Hudson Williams, who plays Shane, reposted it alongside the graphic from Just Jared about the viral criticism on his Instagram story. Along with adding the questioning comment his co-star wrote, the Heated Rivalry co-lead complimented Jordan Firstman’s show, writing:

Right now, both these highly talked about series are available to stream with an HBO Max subscription. Also, both I Love LA and Heated Rivalry have been renewed for second seasons. So, as this discourse about them continues, we’ll keep you updated.

Meanwhile, to keep up with both projects, you can catch new episodes of Heated Rivalry every Friday, while I Love LA drops new episodes every Sunday at 10:30 p.m. ET.