The stars of Heated Rivalry are asking fans to cool off.
Hudson Williams and François Arnaud, stars of the hit hockey series, shared the same statement across their individual social media accounts on Monday condemning any bigoted statements and disrespectful behavior within the show’s rabid fandom. As of Tuesday morning, Williams, Arnaud, and Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova have all posted the statement, while show creator Jacob Tierney and author Rachel Reid have reposted Williams’ IG story.
“Don’t call yourself a fan if you share racist/ homophobic/ biphobic/ misogynistic/ ageist/ ableist/ parasocial/bigoted comments of any kind,” the statement read. “None of us need your hateful ‘love’.”
Arnaud and Williams’ posts were captured on social media.
“We all respect and support and love each other and are on the same side. if you can’t accept that gtfoh,” the note continued.
Kharlamova further emphasized the message of the post in added text; alongside the statement shared by her co-stars, she wrote: “pls don’t make a show that’s about love be hateful online. 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.’”
She continued, “So much good has come from this show so let’s keep that going!! Share the love, the art, the dance parties, the friends made, the positivity!!”
While none of the stars alluded to a specific instance of toxic fan behavior, there’s no shortage of examples to choose from, given just how opinionated and delusional some fans of the hockey show have become.
As previously noted in Wired, the rumored relationship between stars Connor Storrie and Arnaud has led to an uproar from fans over their 15-year age gap, with some fans going as far as calling Arnaud a “groomer” and a “pedophile” for … once again … dating an adult.
Williams has also been subject to extreme anti-Asian racism from fans, as well as accusations of queerbaiting for his dating a woman.
Reid described the relationship between fans and the stars of Heated Rivalry negatively in a recent podcast interview. “Mass psychosis does seem like the only word for it,” she said.
Tierney has previously denounced the toxic portion of the fandom, as well.
“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 fucking Twitter fight,” he said. “I’m not here for this. I’m not participating. I’m not paying attention.”
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.
Originally Appeared on them.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
