“Damage control”: Hudson Williams and Jordan Firstman make peace in Los Angeles, but fans say the PR moment felt forced
The social media feud between I Love LA star Jordan Firstman and the Heated Rivalry cast appeared to cool off this week. On Tuesday, Dec 16, Hudson Williams posted a selfie with Firstman in Los Angeles, which was quickly reposted by the I Love LA actor.
Since then, the pair have recorded several social media videos together and were at a pop-up gift wrapping event hosted by HBO Max in Los Angeles with other members of the I Love LA cast.
How Jordan Firstman and the Heated Rivalry cast ended up at odds
The tension began after Firstman criticized Heated Rivalry during a Vulture interview. He focused on the show’s early sex scenes. However, his comments landed poorly with many viewers.
"I’m sorry, I watched those first two episodes of Heated Rivalry, and it’s just not gay," Firstman told Vulture. "It’s not how gay people [expletive]. There’s so few things that actually show gay sex."
Heated Rivalry adapts Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novels for Canadian streaming service Crave, and is currently streaming on HBO Max in the U.S. It follows rival hockey players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, as they start a decade-long secret relationship in their rookie year.
Fans quickly defended the actors, especially Williams and Connor Storrie, who play Shane and Ilya, respectively. Still, backlash grew as well from Firstman suggesting only queer actors should play queer roles.
Williams and Firstman appeared together in LA
Online critics accused HBO of stepping in once calls to boycott I Love LA spread online. Meanwhile, fan frustration aimed less at Williams and more at the situation around him.
X user @shnehollander tweeted, "HBO cornering this 24yo to do damage control cause a grown ass man couldn't shut his mouth."
Despite the backlash, Williams and Firstman appeared friendly in the selfie they both posted to Instagram. In it, the pair sat close together, both with lit cigarettes in their mouths.
Yesterday, the two actors attended a joint gift-wrapping meet-and-greet in Los Angeles along with other I Love LA cast members.
During the event, the actors filmed several videos, which were in a similar lip-sync style used by Heated Rivalry’s official accounts for show promos.
Fans of the Canadian TV show, however, were not impressed with what they felt was damage control of bad press for I Love LA.
"The way he’s acting so stressed over a 5-second TikTok that he has to quote, you wouldn’t think he’s the lead of an entire series ????????" said @foreverifuasked.
@misstylst wrote sarcastically, "Oh yeah, sure, just ignore the fact that he said this about two young actors who are just starting out in Hollywood ☺️☺️" They shared a screenshot from Firstman’s interview where he talked about actors needing to come out to play queer roles.
Another fan pushed back even harder. "This kind of PR is honestly sickening. Please stop doing this again. If u wanted to invite Hudson, u could have done it without involving someone else in such a bitter way. (vise verca)," @LoonBird2017 wrote. "It’s annoying and really rubs people the wrong way."
Others worried about Williams’ position in the situation, and some observed that Arnaud and Storrie were notably absent from the LA promotions. X user @HaydeeF14 said, "This is ridiculous. Stop dragging Hudson like that to do pr for a man 10 years older than him."
@truesakura_ Cast of @HBO Max “I Love LA” Rachel Sennott, Jordan Firstman and True Whitaker and @Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams at the Westfield Century City Gift Wrapping Pop-Up @Westfield Century City #rachelsennott #celebritynews #ilovela #heatedrivalry #celebritytiktok ♬ original sound - Robin | SoCal Events & Pop-Ups
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