By Sophia Bui
Around April 2022, Netflix adapted the book series “Heartstopper” into a TV series. The show appealed to the teenage audience, providing representation for young members of the LGBTQIA+ community. However, as popularity increased for the series, so did speculations of the actors’ sexualities, specifically Kit Connor. Connor plays Nick in the series, receiving love from the audience for his charismatic performance. As he gained followers, members of the media pushed further on the question of revealing his sexuality.
Eventually, the pressure resulted in Connor having to reveal his true sexuality in order to satisfy the media’s curiosity.
“Back for a minute. I’m bi [bisexual]. Congrats for forcing an 18-year-old to out himself. I think some of you missed the point of the show. Bye,” Connor said.
Today, a similar situation arises amidst the talk of “Heated Rivalry”, an original series from Crave, adapting the book series “Game Changers.” The two main stars including Connor Storrie, who plays Ilya Rozanov, and Hudson Williams, playing as Shane Hollander, are currently facing the same speculations of their personal information as the show’s success increases.
As newly rising stars, the actors weren’t prepared for the excessive questioning from the media following the show’s success. People began to dig further into the two’s old social media presence and even pages of their surroundings to get a glimpse of the answer they were looking for. This speculation leads to the main idea: what is behind the media’s obsession with actors’ sexualities?
One answer to this question would be representation. Members of the queer community seek out an accurate and authentic representation — leaning towards a desire for queer roles to be portrayed by queer actors. However, at times, the speculations stem from the general community. Even non-queer people made speculations regarding Storrie and Williams’ past respective relationships, making it hard to differentiate between the press for authenticity and media iniquity.
Although never having publicly stated their sexualities, Storrie and Williams immediately faced backlash from public figures on the concept of “straight actors playing queer roles.” Many people find the concept distasteful, pulling opportunity and reputation away from the LGBTQIA+ community.
Yet the idea of assuming the actors’ sexualities, bashing their work and pressuring each actor to come out in order to resolve rumors contradicts the overall message of “correct” queer representation. It also shows who cared about the true quality and message of the films, as Heartstopper represented the struggles of being young and queer, and Heated Rivalry focused on the homophobic environment of professional sports leagues.
From the nonconsecutive yet similar stories of these stars within the film industry, the message to take would be to not question actors’ sexualities, but rather the portrayal of queer characters from the writer’s perspectives and actors’ performances.
