With the success of Heated Rivalry, the NHL is enjoying a surprising amount of attention and marketing, which should be backed by some support, says François Arnaud.
The Canadian actor, who plays hockey star Scott Hunter on the Crave/HBO Max series, noted that the league is "actually really good at capitalising" on the gay hockey romance series but hopes they start to "back it up" with meaningful LGBTQ support.
Talking on SiriusXM's Radion Andy, Arnaud noted, "Their sales are going up apparently, and the Boston Bruins tagged us in different clips online, and it's getting incredible traction."
"I'm just hoping that it's backed up by actual openness to diversity."
The 40-year-old added, "I think they banned [players] from wearing a Pride band a few years ago. So like, if you're gonna use our name, back it up with real-life sh*t."
Arnaud's statement came after the star was engulfed in social media drama when he unfollowed all of his castmates amid speculation of romance with co-star Connor Storrie, which led to online harassment.
Since then, the actor who appears in one episode of Schitt's Creek has followed back all of his colleagues and shared a telling Instagram post with a collage of Hudson Williams, with the caption, "Learning from the very best."
Notably, Heated Rivalry's season 2 has been confirmed; however, details about the release date are still under wraps.
