Hudson Williams Responds To Claims He's "Gay Baiting" On Heated Rivalry
"I want queer people telling queer stories, but also..."
Hudson Williams has made it a point to not publicly disclose his sexuality — but that hasn’t stopped people from attempting to pry into his personal life. As his gay hockey romance Heated Rivalry has skyrocketed to success, Williams has had to deal with fans (and even some fellow actors) speculating about him. When directly asked about the “gay baiting” narrative suddenly surrounding him in a recent Deadline interview, Williams emphasized that his strong bond with co-star Connor Storrie is more important than their sexualities in portraying this steamy love story.
“Of course, I agree. I want queer people telling queer stories, but also, there’s the element of Connor and I — we’re best friends, and we love expressing that physically,” Williams said. “You see people who infer or assume, and you kind of have to let that go. But then again, I never wanna stop expressing the love I have for Connor physically, and I’m never really going to.”
Williams continued by pointing to Heated Rivalry showrunner Jacob Tierney’s previous remarks about the cast’s sexualities. Tierney has said he never asked any actor’s sexuality during the audition process, and instead cast the parts based on their “enthusiasm and willingness to do the work.”
“I think what Jacob said really sums it up the best, which is, you have to gauge how enthusiastic they are about the story,” Williams said. “They could have paid me $10 and just fed me, and I’m doing the story. I really thought I was gonna get nothing for this, and I just loved the story so much, and I want to be a part of that. And Connor as well, I’m sure feels the same. So, I think that’s the only thing you can gauge.”
In the same interview, Storrie echoed Williams’ sentiment about his personal love life not needing to factor into his profession. “Who I date, who I sleep with, who this, that, whatever, I’m gonna keep that to myself,” Storrie said. “All I can really say is that I love Ilya, I love the community that this is a part of and that this caters to. I think that’s so much more interesting and valuable than doing just another run-of-the-mill, straight story.”
