NHL commish says Heated Rivalry may be too ‘spicy’ to embrace, calls show ‘fun’

Gary Bettman says he’s a big fan of the gay hockey show “Heated Rivalry.”

The NHL commissioner was asked about the hit show on HBO Max here in the U.S., and his comments were certainly positive.

“I’ve watched all six episodes,” The Athletic reported Gettman telling reporters on Thursday. “I binged it in one night.”

Of course he binged it in one night. Somebody at the league front office I’m sure told him, “Uhhhh… sir… you better watch this hockey show. It’s getting more attention than we are.”

He also had a positive — though odd — word to describe a show about two traumatized gay hockey players forced into secrecy and fear by the culture of his sport.

“I thought the storyline was very compelling and a lot of fun, because I could (see) where they were picking at things that we had in the past, whether it was (Olympics) in Sochi or the All-Star Game in Tampa. It was very well done.”

Get off the sidelines and into the game

Our weekly playbook is packed with everything from locker room chatter to pressing LGBTQ sports issues.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

I’ve heard lots of words to describe “Heated Rivalry.” Dramatic. Beautiful. Heart-breaking. Inspiring. Raw. Honest. Intense. Passionate. Tender.

Fun?

It reminded me of the time Kevin Coster told Madonna her “Blonde Ambition Tour” show was “neat.”

I asked ChatGPT to give me the 100 most common words used by people to describe “Heated Rivalry.”

“Fun” didn’t even make that list.

Still, Bettman’s overall tenor about the show — as reported by journalists who were there — was positive. As well it should be, given the NHL is selling tickets thanks to Heated Rivalry.

Related

Famous gay and bi athletes are giving us their hot takes on ‘Heated Rivalry’
As people rave about the hit TV show ‘Heated Rivalry,’ gay & bi athletes like Keegan Hirst and Jake Williamson are posting their reviews.

NHL has publicly ignored Heated Rivalry

Though you wouldn’t know any of this by the NHL’s near public silence about the show. The league hasn’t promoted it, and there’s only one very tepid comment readily available from an NHL spokesperson about the show.

Bettman brought some potential illumination to the league publicly ignoring “Heated Rivalry,” seemingly as much as possible.

“The content, particularly for young people, might be a little spicy,” Bettman said of the show. “And so you have to balance that out in terms of how you embrace (the show).”

So maybe the league is avoiding it because of the sex? But if it was straight sex, would that be OK?

You can only imagine the conversations going on in the league front office — and good for “Heated Rivalry” for helping create those conversations.

Gary Bettman stands by NHL ban of Pride gear on players

Bettman also reiterated his support for a continued ban of Pride gear on players during a team’s Pride Night. According to various reports, all 30 NHL teams are hosting a Pride Night this season.

Still, Bettman bristles at the idea that the league created a Pride gear ban.

“It’s a misrepresentation of what we did to suggest that it was about Pride jerseys,” he said, according to The Hockey News. “It was about the whole issue of what you put on the ice and how, when players don’t embrace the cause, whatever it is, then you create distraction, and it doesn’t fulfill the purpose in terms of embracing Pride nights.”

The NHL created a Pride gear ban. That’s what it is. Bettman and others have tried to paint it another way, but there was no national conversation about what people were wearing for Irish Heritage Night.

Bettman told NHL fans in 2023 they had to accept homophobia, and to give that homophobia cover, he and the league banned all players from wearing Pride gear during even warm-ups.

Seven players refused. No nobody gets to wear a Pride jersey. It’s an odd leadership style, that’s for sure.

The NHL tried to ban Pride Tape too, but the players utterly revolted and they had to rescind that one.

Subscribe to the Outsports newsletter to keep up with your favorite out athletes, inspiring LGBTQ sports stories, and more.

The post NHL commish says Heated Rivalry may be too ‘spicy’ to embrace, calls show ‘fun’ appeared first on Outsports.