This text incorporates spoilers for the present Heated Rivalry.
When snippets of the Canadian sequence Heated Rivalry began popping up on TikTok on the finish of final yr, 24-year-old Dima, who works as an engineer in Moscow, was intrigued by the steamy present centred on the romantic relationship between two skilled hockey gamers — one Canadian, one Russian.
As he began watching it, he was hooked. He was instantly impressed by how U.S. actor Connor Storrie was in a position to nail the accent whereas portraying Ilya Rozanov, an boastful and charismatic Russian centre.
And he felt a deep private connection to Rozanov’s wrestle with being open about his sexuality.
“When Ilya says he will not be capable to return to his nation if he comes out — that is pure fact,” stated Dima. CBC Information is simply figuring out him by his first title, given Russia’s extreme anti-LGBTQ+ legal guidelines.
“Earlier than, nicely, it was simply condemned. Now it is actually a purpose for hatred … they’ll beat you, they’ll detain you, they’ll arrest you.”
Calls to ban the sequence
The present, primarily based on a sequence of novels by Canadian creator Rachel Reid, follows Rozanov and Asian-Canadian participant Shane Hollander (performed by Canadian Hudson Williams) over a number of years as they develop emotions for one another whereas sustaining an intense on-ice rivalry.
It is become a worldwide media sensation, sparking conversations round sexuality, homophobia in sport and acceptance, all whereas difficult the constructs of what’s thought of masculine.
In Canada, the sequence was created for Bell Media’s streaming platform, Crave, and airs on HBO Max within the U.S., but in Russia it is solely obtainable by a VPN or on pirated websites, full with subtitles or a Russian voiceover.
Though it technically cannot be watched legally in Russia due to licensing restrictions, a nationwide Orthodox group is asking for it to be banned outright due to what it calls scenes of “unnatural debauchery.”
Even though the Kremlin has handed a sequence of more and more repressive anti-LGBTQ+ legal guidelines, loads of Russians followers are displaying their love and appreciation for the sequence on-line.
A Canadian hockey romance is discovering an sudden viewers in Russia. Followers there say Heated Rivalry’s narrative mirrors the truth for LGBTQ+ folks dwelling beneath Russia’s extreme anti-LGBTQ+ legal guidelines.
On Kinopoisk, a Russian model of the Web Film Database, votes from greater than 30,000 followers have given Heated Rivalry a rating of 8.6.
There are memes, posts and reels on social media from Russians who enthusiastically admit to binge watching the spicy content material. In a nod to one of many episodes, a girl superimposes pictures of Rozanov throughout a rural property, saying the hockey participant may come to her “dacha,” or cottage, anytime.
However the sequence has additionally prompted deeper, albeit way more personal, conversations in a rustic the place same-sex unions aren’t acknowledged and the federal government goes to nice lengths to extoll what it considers “conventional” values.
“Persons are watching it partly as a result of it’s forbidden, a responsible pleasure that the federal government would doubtless view as harmful propaganda,” Dima stated in a voice memo despatched to CBC Information by way of the Telegram messaging app.
Russia’s more and more harsh legal guidelines
In December 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a sweeping legislation banning what his authorities outlined as LGBTQ+ “propaganda.”
A number of books, together with these by Oscar Wilde, have been taken off retailer cabinets. Movies depicting same-sex relationships, together with Brokeback Mountain, have been eliminated by Russian streaming websites.
Underneath the legislation, anybody deemed to be selling “untraditional sexual relations” may very well be fined as much as 400,000 rubles, the equal of about $7,200 Cdn.
Earlier this week, on Jan. 13, a court docket in Moscow filed administrative prices in opposition to a number of executives at Russian streaming websites for the alleged distribution of LGBTQ+ propaganda. It isn’t clear what content material prompted the costs.
However Russia has additionally gone additional, shifting to introduce the prospect of jail time for these it deems to be activists.
In 2023, after a closed door listening to, Russia’s Supreme Court docket declared what it known as the “worldwide LGBT motion” an extremist group.
In 2024, the primary arrests have been carried out beneath the brand new legislation. Two staff of an LGBTQ+ membership have been arrested and will withstand ten years if they’re convicted.
The growing strain has prompted some to flee Russia, and for many who keep, to extra tightly conceal their personal lives.
Maintaining their sexuality secret
Dima says he “accepted” that he was homosexual when he was 19, however he is cautious to not reveal something besides to these he’s closest to. When he talks about going out on the weekend, he’ll inform folks he went out along with his girlfriend, as an alternative of his boyfriend.
“The issue is that I am getting used to it,” he stated. “I’ve come to phrases with the truth that that is how issues are for us and there is no different approach.”
At work, when he hears his colleagues making hateful, anti-LGBTQ+ feedback, Dima says he stays quiet, in order to not give away something about himself.
Dima says it is easy for him to overlook that he is homosexual as a result of he tries so laborious to distance himself from the group.
He likes the truth that the primary season of Heated Rivalry ended with Hollander popping out to his dad and mom, however admitted he felt envious as he watched.
“Popping out to my dad and mom turned out utterly completely different, and I watch how his dad and mom settle for him, I really feel so good for him,” he stated.
“I genuinely envy Shane that he has such dad and mom.”
Broader enchantment
For Oli, who lived in St. Petersburg earlier than leaving Russia in 2022, the present serves as a reminder that “being queer is OK.”
Oli, who makes use of she/he pronouns, fled the nation due to its repressive legal guidelines, however nonetheless helps different LBGTQ+ Russians. That is why CBC shouldn’t be utilizing Oli’s full title.
Whereas Oli says the present has clearly resonated with the LGBTQ+ group, it additionally has broader enchantment, particularly amongst younger girls.
A music by Russian pop duo t.A.T.u options prominently in a single episode, and the group has reportedly earned a whole lot of 1000’s of latest listeners on Russian streaming web site Yandex Music.
Additionally it is now continuously sampled as a part of reels and movies on social media.
“This present is the rationale why [some people] have an excellent temper, particularly proper now, as a result of it is winter,” stated Oli in a Zoom interview with CBC Information. “That is like some solar … and so they have been very excited to look at the present.”
