Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams Particulars Messages From Closeted Professional Athletes After Present’s Launch

Hudson Williams has been scoring some meaningful private messages.

In fact, the Heated Rivalry actor, who plays closeted gay hockey star Shane Hollander opposite Connor Storie (Ilya Rozanov) on the Crave/HBO Max show, revealed that he has received multiple DMs from closeted LGBTQ+ athletes who appreciate the show.

“The people who reach out, somewhat anonymously, who are like, ‘I’m a professional player still, and I’m still in the closet,’” Hudson said in a Jan. 7 clip from his appearance on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM show Radio Andy. “They’re [also] reaching out to Rachel [Reid], our author, who will then kind of relay these lovely anonymous emails.” 

The 24-year-old added of the hockey, football and basketball players he’s heard from, “Sometimes they’re just reaching out privately through 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 nerve.’”

But gratitude isn’t the only emotion Hudson has felt in the six weeks since the show premiered for U.S. audiences on HBO Max. Indeed, he’s fully aware that his viral popularity is “crazy.”