Five Minutes Into "Heated Rivalry," I Had to Turn It Off
The show's celebration of white queer desire exposes how Black queer men are denied the same narrative freedom.
The buzz around “Heated Rivalry” has been impossible to ignore. Fans celebrate it as a groundbreaking story of two athletes navigating desire, competition and ultimately, love. It’s been praised for its boldness, its refusal to shy away from sexuality and its portrayal of queer men who are allowed to exist fully in their bodies and their wants.
But as a Black queer man, I found myself unable to watch beyond the first five minutes. The immediate hypersexualization on screen didn’t feel liberating—it felt alienating. While white gay men may recognize themselves in these characters who exchange lingering glances at each other’s bodies before falling into romance, this is not my experience. And the discomfort I felt wasn’t just personal—it was political.
What struck me most wasn’t just what “Heated Rivalry” chose to show, but what it revealed about the broader landscape of queer representation. Black queer men are rarely afforded the kind of narrative freedom given to the white protagonists of this show.
Our stories are told through a lens of shame, secrecy and suffering. We are the down-low men, the hypersexualized figures whose desire is always punished by HIV/AIDS, death, or some other dehumanizing consequence. We are cautionary tales, not celebrations. Meanwhile, “Heated Rivalry” offers its white characters a world where their sexuality is not only accepted but glorified—a stark contrast that underscores the deep disparities in how Black and white queerness are depicted on screen.
These patterns matter because they shape how we see ourselves and how we are seen by others. They explain why many Black queer people do not celebrate Pride month in the same spaces as the broader LGBTQ+ community, why we create and protect our own spaces, and why we resist narratives that erase or exploit us.
While viewers lose themselves in the romance and tension of “Heated Rivalry,” I found myself thinking critically about why I couldn’t.
Until Black queer men are given the same grace, complexity and humanity on screen, the divide will remain.
When I watched Heated Rivalry i had a lot of same thoughts. And while i thought the show was enjoyable, it’s hard to not feel left out of the representation. Especially when shows like Noah’s Arc gets a new movie but no one gives it the same amount of attention.
What a great read and an incredible perspective that unfortunately will be missed by the sea of positive feedback, I enjoyed the show but it’s because I was stepping in with the knowledge that hockey has dismissed black and brown players for years so representation for my people wasn’t expected.
I’m grateful that gay stories are being told from whatever perspective but despite how happy I am for unknown actors , it does make me feel a way that these men who are majority white have been embraced so quickly by the industry, I wonder how much joy and prosperity would be given to the cast of Noah’s Arc ( a black queer show )if the show debuted today