{"id":432832,"date":"2026-01-28T17:12:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/432832\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T17:12:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:12:32","slug":"francois-arnaud-accuses-nhl-of-using-heated-rivalry-to-sell-tickets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/432832\/","title":{"rendered":"Francois Arnaud accuses NHL of using Heated Rivalry to ‘sell tickets’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Francois\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Fran\u00e7ois Arnaud urged the NHL to \u2018follow through\u2019 by supporting closeted players. (YouTube\/Getty\/Canva)<\/p>\n

Fran\u00e7ois Arnaud urged the NHL to ‘follow through’ by supporting closeted players. (YouTube\/Getty\/Canva)<\/p>\n

Heated Rivalry star Fran\u00e7ois Arnaud<\/a> has accused the National Hockey League (NHL) of using the show to sell tickets without addressing homophobia within the sport.<\/p>\n

The 40-year-old bisexual Canadian, who plays New York Admirals captain Scott Hunter<\/a> in the internationally-acclaimed romantic drama Heated Rivalry<\/a>, said he hopes the North American ice hockey league does more to support its closeted LGBTQ+ players.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the NHL joined the global mania<\/a> around Heated Rivalry after its commissioner, Gary Bettman, said he binged the show in a single night.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Heated Rivalry\u2019s Fran\u00e7ois Arnaud breaks silence on love life with defiant message<\/a><\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the league later told Rolling Stone<\/a> that the show\u2019s popularity was clearly driving interest in the sport, adding that \u201cwhat those new fans will find is a warm welcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, what new fans might also find is the continued prevalence of homophobia within the sport. A survey of US adults shared in 2023 suggests that ice hockey is considered the most anti-LGBTQ+<\/a> sport among the \u2018Big Four\u2019 \u2013 American Football, Hockey, Basketball, and Baseball.<\/p>\n

\"\"Fran\u00e7ois Arnaud. (Getty)<\/p>\n

Speaking on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Arnaud confronted the disconnect between the NHL\u2019s love of Heated Rivalry, and the homophobia still ripe within the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just hope that the league, that\u2019s now using the show for tweets and Instagram posts and selling tickets, will actually, like, follow through and support open identities for the players.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of reporting, there are currently no out LGBTQ+ male players in the NHL. It is the only major North American male sports league to have never had an out, active player.<\/p>\n

Arnaud previously urged the league to address its lack of diversity, according to the Express Tribune<\/a>, saying that its LGBTQ+ allyship \u201chas to be real\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just put a logo up and think the work is done,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about creating an environment where people actually feel safe being themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December, UHL goaltender Brock McGillis<\/a>, who became the first male hockey player to come out as gay, told PinkNews he believed Heated Rivalry wouldn\u2019t help closeted players come out.<\/p>\n

Responding to comments from former hockey pro Sean Avery, who claimed the show might motivate players to come out, McGillis said he \u201cwholeheartedly\u201d disagreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might help the people around [players] understand a little more if they\u2019re dating somebody; hopefully,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody\u2019s like, \u2018Oh yeah. This came out and now I\u2019m ready [to come out].\u2019 It\u2019s not happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Share your story!\u00a0Do you have an important, exciting or uplifting story to tell? Email us at [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fran\u00e7ois Arnaud urged the NHL to \u2018follow through\u2019 by supporting closeted players. (YouTube\/Getty\/Canva) Fran\u00e7ois Arnaud urged the NHL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[51829,34883,5,4],"class_list":["post-432832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-francois-arnaud","tag-heated-rivalry","tag-hockey","tag-nhl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115973846110828486","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}