The stars of TV juggernaut Heated Rivalry have fired back at the most toxic corner of the show’s fandom in a joint statement.
Prominent castmembers in the Canadian gay hockey romance – who have been made overnight stars after the six-parter – have condemned fans sharing ‘bigoted’ comments online.
While the cast did not directly point to which comments their statements referred to, the love for the Crave and HBO show has, in some parts of the Heated Rivalry fandom, curdled into a parasocial obsession with its cast.
Hudson Williams, François Arnaud, Robbie Graham-Kuntz and Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova shared the identical statement to their Instagram Stories, writing: ‘ Don’t call yourself a fan if you share racist/homophobic/biphobic/misogynistic/ageist/ableist/parasocial/bigoted comments of any kind.
‘None of us need your hateful “love”.’
The black and white text continued: ‘We all respect and support and love each other and are on the same side. if you can’t accept that gtfoh.’
Kharlamova, who plays Svetlana in the drama, wrote in addition to the main statement: ‘Pls don’t make a show that’s about love be hateful online.
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‘So much love was poured into this project and we all genuinely have so much respect for everyone involved in making this.
‘We’re not characters and neither are our real friends, partners, family and making up false narratives about us isn’t ‘love’. So much good has come from this show so let’s keep that going!!’
Shortly after sharing the fan note to their social media accounts, Hudson replied to a Threads post questioning what motivated the joint post, saying: ‘It was Francois’ idea and I helped write it!
‘I don’t scroll comments so I did not see the hate. I was vibing watching figure skating highlights.’
The show’s creator Jacob Tierney has also previously denounced the ‘toxic’ parts of the Heated Rivalry fandom.
Speaking on the Loon Call podcast in February, he said: ‘The segment of the fandom that have become toxic and saying horrible things about my actors and about characters and demanding I do things to either denounce or stand up for some imaginary f***ing Twitter fight – that I’m not here for.
‘I’m not participating. I’m not paying attention.’
Heated Rivalry is expected to return for season 2 in 2027.
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