It may be winter, but Heated Rivalry is still hot enough to fog up the 2026 Golden Globes red carpet. That much became immediately clear when breakout star Hudson Williams stopped to chat with Gayle King and casually delivered one of the kinkiest first-date answers the ceremony has heard in years.
While speaking with King on the carpet, the Heated Rivalry actor was asked a deceptively simple question: what makes a great first date?
Williams paused, then chose chaos that would make Shane Hollander blush:
“A lot of things. A lot of things. I don’t know. Good conversation and good laughing and good f--king.”
One moment—let me update my 2026 New Year’s resolution to Hudson Williams' standards.
After a brief beat, King took it in stride without clutching the pearls, laughing before conceding that he wasn’t exactly wrong.
The CBS Morning host met him exactly where he was:
“I think that does sound like a good first date.”
Williams was attending his first Golden Globes, and was slated to present alongside co-star Connor Storrie. He arrived earlier in the evening wearing a white peak-lapel Giorgio Armani dinner jacket with a matching silk shirt and cummerbund, Bulgari jewelry, and Christian Louboutin boots—classic, elegant, and just restrained enough to contrast with the absolute menace of his press tour.
Sharing a tequila shot with King, Williams also kept the energy loose and expressed his gratitude for attending the ceremony and for the show's fans.
After King admitted to binge-watching the six-episode series, Williams acknowledged:
“That it’s joyous and it can be joyous, and it shouldn’t be in the closet or in the shadows. It should be celebrated…”
You can catch the full interview below:
And if you’ve somehow missed it, or need an excuse to renew your HBO Max subscription: Williams and Storrie, who play rival hockey stars Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, have been everywhere. The Heated Rivalry press run has been a masterclass in controlled thirst, viral charm, and weaponized sincerity between two handsome men.
Interviews, photoshoots, late-night appearances, party hopping—all of it reminding the internet that queer romance can be horny, funny, and mainstream without sanding itself down.
On the carpet, Williams continued delivering quotable moments as if it were part of the job description. During a string of red-carpet interviews, he dropped gems like, “Love y’all, uh, the sound is included in that,” when asked what message he had for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Williams, surveying the scene and stating the obvious to Globe photographers:
“It’s hot, boys, god damn.”
He wasn’t wrong. Damson Idris arrived in a sharp-shouldered, double-breasted Prada moment. Glen Powell leaned into midnight-blue velvet with a shawl-collar dinner jacket and tinted glasses. And his Heated Rivalry co-star Storrie quietly made the case for why wide-leg trousers are still very much having their moment.
Williams also managed to get the E! News glambot censored thanks to a well-timed double middle finger, did shots with King, and radiated the kind of chaotic sincerity that queer audiences clock instantly—especially those fluent in spotting performative allyship from a mile away.
You can watch his glambot moment here (and you’re welcome):
The internet reacted immediately, turning Williams’ NSFW aside into the night’s most replayed red-carpet moment:
Not to be outdone, Storrie arrived about half an hour later in a Saint Laurent black tuxedo accented with a Tiffany & Co. Bird on a Rock brooch. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he reflected on the less glamorous side of preparing for the role—namely, learning how to skate in Los Angeles.
Storrie, recalling the humbling realities of hockey prep:
“I would have to drive 45 minutes every day to the Valley to try to learn how to ice skate. I would do these open skates, and it would be me and these seven-year-old girls. They would just skate laps around me.”
During the ceremony, Williams and Storrie presented the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series, arriving onstage to Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club.” The room erupted when they asked who had seen Heated Rivalry, confirming what the internet already knows: the audience is bigger and more diverse than anyone expected.
Williams even helped Adolescence winner Erin Doherty up the stairs, proving that chivalry is alive, well, and possibly wearing Armani.
You can watch the moment below:
- YouTubeGolden Globes
Season 2 doesn’t have a release date yet, but the ice is thinning—and asking us to wait much longer feels rude.
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