Jill Biden is a “Heated Rivalry” fan.
So much so that the former First Lady, just minutes ago during the live auction at the NYC LGBT Community Center’s Center Dinner, bid $35,000 to have a walk-on role in the queer hockey series’ second season along with a dinner with the cast, according to sources.
However, she was outbid. The package ending up selling twice to two bidders at $125,000 each.
“Heated Rivalry” creator Jacob Tierney and his producing partner Brendan Brady (who wasn’t able to make it to the gala) were honored at the event with the Cultural Impact Award. They were presented with the award by Rachel Reid, author of the queer hockey book series “Game Changers.”
“Tierney and Brady have elevated and centered queer characters as fully realized leads whose desires, conflicts and tenderness are treated with dignity,” Center CEO Dr. Carla Smith said ahead of the event. “By championing our voices, they have brought queer joy and storytelling to the mainstream media and have created work that affirms and advances our community.”
Brooks Brothers CEO Ken Ohashi was also honored. Melanie C, aka Sporty Spice of the Spice Girls, performed.
“Heated Rivalry” Season 2, which will be an adaptation of Reid’s book “The Long Game,” is expected to premiere on HBO Max in April 2027. Filming will start this summer with stars Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams returning.
“I’m in a room all day writing,” Tierney told me at the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles in early March, adding that he would stay “faithful” to the book.
“I think I realized a little while ago that what I have to do is go back to where my head was at the first time I wrote, which was love these books and try to make the smartest thing I can make of it,” Tierney said.
Along with Williams and Storrie, the “Heated Rivalry” cast includes François Arnaud, Robbie G.K., Christina Chang, Dylan Walsh, Nadine Bhabha, Sophie Nélisse and Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova.
