Joel Kim Booster Worries Hollywood Took Wrong Message From ‘Heated Rivalry’s Success: “It Wasn’t The Hockey”

With the final stretch of Pride Month upon us, Joel Kim Booster feels Hollywood is dropping the ball on LGBTQ representation.

The 2x Emmy nominee recently discussed the massive success of the Crave/HBO Max series Heated Rivalry, explaining that the industry had the wrong takeaway from the homoerotic sports show from Jacob Tierney, based on Rachel Reid’s Game Changer novels.

“There are now six hockey shows in development, none of them gay,” Booster told The Provincetown Independent. “And it’s like, guys, I think it wasn’t the hockey that was the big issue.”

In addition to Prime Video’s Off Campus, based on the steamy college hockey novels by Elle Kennedy, Netflix is adapting Hannah Grace’s Icebreaker books.

Meanwhile, filming is expected to begin on Season 2 of Heated Rivalry in August, after Tierney has completed writing the episodes.

Booster called out the Trump administration for the negative impact its attacks on DEI initiatives have had on the industry. “People are really frightened and risk-averse right now because of this administration and what we’ve seen in the way of censorship or retaliation,” he said.

In November, GLAAD released its 20th annual ‘Where We Are on TV‘ report, nearly half (41%) of LGBTQ characters would not be returning to television due to series cancellations, endings or limited series format.