The American television series Heated Rivalry, which tells the story of two professional ice hockey players in a secret relationship, has become the first viral show of 2026.
For most viewers, it’s entertainment that’s talked about at work or online. For Jesse Kortuem, it hit deeper.
Born, raised and still living in Minneapolis, he grew up wearing skates and loved ice hockey – but he gave up the sport at 17 because he felt he wouldn’t be accepted because of his sexuality.
More than two decades later, looking Passionate rivalry inspired Kortuem to come out as gay, believing it shows that attitudes within the sport have changed for the better.
Her Instagram post has since gone viral, leading to a “very surreal” start to the year.
“I’m so grateful for the end of my life,” he told BBC Sport. “To finally have that relief…to bring 110% of myself into the locker room. Something was speaking to me through the show – I had to let something out.
“Then this post was shared with the world. The first few days it was shocking, but now it’s humbling: people have reached out to say this inspired them to have a conversation with their parents. Honestly, I’m speechless.”
Kortuem played ice hockey in local leagues in Minneapolis during his teenage years and occasionally dipped back into the amateur game as an adult.
It wasn’t until he joined Cutting Edges, an LGBT-inclusive team that plays across North America, in 2017 that he re-engaged with the sport – and it wasn’t until this year that he felt comfortable speaking openly about his sexuality with the broader hockey community.
Now 40, Kortuem says he had to “adjust” to hockey – and life – to fit in.
But seeing the spectacle, in which two athletes begin a romantic relationship, awakened pent-up feelings.
“I had to hide, and looking back, it was hard,” he says. “It was still a place of comfort, but a place where I had to modify myself.
“It was time to give a real face to what this story brought to athletes, to make it known. And it took off!”
“Hockey is terrible, but they love history”
Like many LGBTQ+ amateur athletes, Kortuem has a nagging feeling that having to repress part of his personality prevented him from performing at his best – and potentially cost him sporting opportunities.
But he says contact from former teammates in recent weeks has helped.
“I didn’t know what would happen if I disrupted the brotherhood that exists in the locker room,” he says. “Would I be a target?
“But I’m at peace now. I don’t know where hockey could have taken me, if I had had a career, but having that pride on the ice feels like home.”
Despite Heated Rivalry’s overtly queer themes, the show has been embraced by the entire hockey community.
This is, of course, an escapism rather than a realistic depiction of what life would be like as a gay player in America’s National Hockey League (NHL).
But Kortuem thinks a popular show with a positive attitude toward gay athletes can only do good.
“It really hit home for me and a lot of gay athletes; our whole lives we were taught that it wasn’t okay to be gay,” he says.
“Seeing the positive reception – not only from gay people, but straight hockey fans – and seeing them cheer for these queer hockey players really resonated, even though they are fictional characters who understand this Cinderella story.
“Even ex-NHL players have embraced it – they say the hockey is terrible, but they love the story. It can resonate with people and it ultimately means, to someone my age, that it’s a positive gay story.
“No heartbreak, beatings or AIDS crisis – but an inspiring love story.”
“I wish the NHL would say they were wrong”
There are currently no active NHL players who identify as gay, although the sport has more elite LGBTQ+ representation than many others.
In 2021, Luc Prokop became the first player under contract with an NHL club to come out as gay. The following year, Zach Sullivanwho plays for Manchester Storm in the Elite League – the top tier of British ice hockey – has revealed he is bisexual.
Women’s ice hockey, meanwhile, has its own version of Heated Rivalry. Julie Chu and Caroline Ouellette were respective captains of the United States and Canadian Olympic teams. Since retiring, they have married and started a family.
The NHL, meanwhile, was keen to capitalize on the series’ popularity, with commissioner Gary Bettman saying he had binge-watched all six episodes in a single evening.
But Kortuem says “a lot of gay people” are “very hesitant” about what the NHL says.
During the 2022-23 season, the league eliminated Pride jerseys after some players refused to wear them. Bettman said the shirts became “more of a distraction,” but Kortuem believes the message they sent to gay people was that they were “not welcome.”
In an interview with Athletics, Bettman said: “You know what our goals, our values and our intentions are across the league, whether it’s at the league level or at the club level. But we also have to respect individual choices. And to be diverse and welcoming, you have to understand those differences.”
Later that season, the NHL banned players from using duct tape to express support for social causes, before reconsider this decision.
“Actions speak louder than words,” Kortuem says. “I would like to see the NHL say they were wrong.”
Heated Rivalry itself was criticized for creating the impression that there is a secret network of gay athletes in the NHL – and some found the explicit scenes too much to handle.
“The sex part in the first two episodes was maybe a little too much,” says Kortuem. “I had to tell my 77-year-old parents to keep watching the whole series.
“But I hope it opens people’s minds. I wouldn’t want my 12-year-old niece to watch it, but the fact that it’s unedited says a lot about wanting to show a positive representation of a love story.”
