{"id":668371,"date":"2026-05-14T06:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T06:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/668371\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T06:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T06:49:10","slug":"margaret-cho-turned-down-heated-rivalry-role-over-trump-ice-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/668371\/","title":{"rendered":"Margaret Cho Turned Down ‘Heated Rivalry’ Role Over Trump, ICE Fears"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn another universe, Margaret Cho<\/a> was Hudson Williams<\/a>\u2018 onscreen mother! <\/p>\n

\n\tDuring a recent appearance on the I Never Liked You<\/a> podcast, the Emmy nominee revealed that she turned down a role in a new series because it was slated to shoot in Canada, and Cho was worried that her criticism about the current administration could lead to her being \u201cdetained at the border.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe show in question was none other than breakout hit<\/a> Heated Rivalry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLast year, I got a pilot script for a show that I really loved, but it shot in Canada. I was, like, so scared because I\u2019m so vocal about hating ICE and hating this administration,\u201d she said. \u201cI was like, I will get detained at the border and I will be put in ICE detention if I go. And I was like struggling over it, and I had to talk to all these people about it, and I was super upset, and I said no. And it was Heated Rivalry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCho revealing that she turned down the gay hockey drama prompted the podcast hosts, Matteo Lane and Nick Smith, to audibly gasp. When asked if she still tuned in to watch the debut season, Cho said she did watch and \u201chosted some rewatch parties,\u201d but that the decision \u201ckills me.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLike, it kills me,\u201d the actress said, continuing, \u201cAnd it\u2019s all because of Trump<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, Cho did admit that when she watched Heated Rivalry and saw Williams in the role, she saw what could have been her onscreen son. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI watch it, and I\u2019m like, \u2018That\u2019s my child! Hudson is my child,’\u201d Cho said. \u201cOf course, the woman who played the part did a great job and she\u2019s wonderful and iconic, and everybody in it is the perfect [fit] \u2014 it came out so perfectly.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith a second season<\/a> of Heated Rivalry on its way, Cho didn\u2019t confirm or deny her potential involvement with the show. \u201cI asked them, we\u2019ll see,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tHailing from Canadian streamer Crave and airing on HBO Max in the U.S., the series centers on a fictional hockey universe based on popular romance books by Rachel Reid.\u00a0Letterkenny\u00a0alum Jacob Tierney created, wrote and directed the series. <\/p>\n

\n\tHeated Rivalry\u00a0focuses on two rival professional players \u2014\u00a0Canada-born Shane Hollander (Williams)<\/a>\u00a0of the fictitious Montreal Metros and\u00a0Russia-born Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie)<\/a>\u00a0of the fictitious Boston Raiders \u2014 as they navigate a\u00a0near-decade-long situationship<\/a>-turned-relationship. The show has made certified stars out of both Storrie and Williams.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the months since the show\u2019s premiere, the pair have presented at the Golden Globes, served as torchbearers in the 2026 Olympic Torch Relay, attended the Met Gala and each booked post-Heated Rivalry roles.\u00a0THR\u00a0previously reported that Storrie was\u00a0in talks<\/a>\u00a0to join the ensemble cast of Molly Gordon and\u00a0SNL\u00a0writer Allie Levitan\u2019s A24 comedy\u00a0Peaked, which appears to have just recently wrapped filming.<\/p>\n

\n\tNext up, Williams can be found starring alongside Carrie-Anne Moss, Noah Reid and Clark Backo in the half-hour Canadian drama Yaga<\/a>. The series is based on the play by Kat Sandler and is a contemporary reimagining of the myth of Baba Yaga set in a coastal town.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In another universe, Margaret Cho was Hudson Williams\u2018 onscreen mother! During a recent appearance on the I Never…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,48,140291,75,140293,140290,246490,3277],"class_list":["post-668371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-connor-storrie","tag-entertainment","tag-heated-rivalry","tag-hudson-williams","tag-margaret-cho","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}