‘Heated Rivalry’ Star Hudson Williams Says Closeted Pro Athletes Have Reached Out to Him Privately

“Heated Rivalry” star Hudson Williams shared that closeted professional athletes have reached out to him since the launch of the series, which centers in on a romance story set in the world of men’s hockey.

“Hockey players, football players, basketball players,” Williams told Andy Cohen, listing all the types of athletes that have messaged him whiling joining Cohen on his podcast series “Andy Cohen Live,” which airs on Thursday.

At the time, Williams explained that there are several professional athletes who are “still in the closet,” and that’s when Cohen asked if he’d “heard from closeted players.”

“They’re reaching out to, like, Rachel [Reid], our author, who will then kind of relay these lovely anonymous emails,” Williams explained. “Sometimes they’re just reaching out privately, through like Instagram, and those ones are the ones that really just kind of hit you and go, ‘Oh, so this is a fun show and it’s celebratory,’ but also sometimes it’s just hitting people right in the nerves.”

Williams stars as Shane Hollander in the series, which premiered on HBO’s Max on Nov. 28, 2025. He co-stars alongside Connor Storrie, who plays Ilya Rozanov, Shane’s love interest.

The two moved on to discuss an apparent online discourse about the amount of sex the show features. Cohen said the conversation is “annoying” to him because he feels there’s a double standard when it comes to gay on-screen sex scenes.

“It’s actually no more graphic than “Bridgerton” or any other show that shows straight sex,” Cohen said, adding there are no “dicks in the show,” just “a lot of butt … beautiful butts.”

“Beautiful butts,” Williams agreed. “I got a lot of Connor Storrie butt posters in my room, but no, like if that were any other if that were a straight intimate scene, it wouldn’t be talked about in that way.”

HBO renewed “Heated Rivalry” for a second season back in December.

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