• Margaret Cho turned down a role in HBO Max’s breakout hit Heated Rivalry because she feared ICE detention at the Canadian border.
• Cho, a vocal critic of the Trump administration, says the decision still “kills” her — she’s since hosted rewatch parties for the show.
• She was reportedly in line to play Yuna Hollander, the mother of Hudson Williams’ character Shane; the role went to Christina Chang.
• Cho has reached out to the Heated Rivalry team about appearing in Season 2, which is set to begin filming this summer and premiere in April 2027.
• Former First Lady Dr. Jill Biden has also bid to make a cameo in Season 2 of the series.

Margaret Cho almost had a seat on the ice. The comedian and actress revealed this week that she turned down a role in Heated Rivalry — HBO Max’s biggest streaming surprise of the past year — because she was genuinely afraid that crossing the border into Canada to film it could get her detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the way back.

“Last year, I got a pilot script for a show that I really loved, but it shot in Canada,” Cho said on the I Never Liked You podcast, hosted by comedians Matteo Lane and Nick Smith. “And I was so scared because I’m so vocal about hating ICE and hating this administration. I was like, I will get detained at the border and I will be put in ICE detention if I go.”

The show was Heated Rivalry. When Cho confirmed it, the podcast hosts audibly gasped.

“I was struggling over it. I had to talk to all of these people about it. And I was super upset about it, and I said no,” she continued. “It kills me. And it’s all because of Trump.”

The Role She Almost Played

Based on details Cho shared on the podcast, she was in line to play Yuna Hollander — the warm, supportive Korean mother of Shane Hollander, the closeted Canadian hockey star at the center of the show. Shane is played by Korean-Canadian actor Hudson Williams, and the mother-son dynamic would have been a natural fit for Cho, who is Korean-American and bisexual.

“I watch it, and I’m like, ‘That’s my child! Hudson is my child,'” Cho said. The role ultimately went to Taiwanese-American actress Christina Chang, and Cho was gracious about it: “Of course, the woman who played the part did a great job and she’s wonderful and iconic, and everybody in it is the perfect fit — it came out so perfectly.”

Still. You can hear the what-if in every word.

“The pilot was beautiful, and I was like, I want to do this,” Cho said.

Her fear wasn’t unfounded. Although Cho was born in San Francisco and is a U.S. citizen, federal immigration agents have detained American residents and denied entry to foreign travelers based on social media posts critical of the current administration. Cho has been among the most outspoken celebrities when it comes to Trump and ICE — a history that made crossing an international border feel like a genuine risk.

A Show That Became a Phenomenon Without Her

Heated Rivalry premiered on Canadian streamer Crave and HBO Max in November 2025, and almost immediately became one of the most talked-about shows in streaming. Created and directed by Letterkenny alum Jacob Tierney and based on Rachel Reid’s Game Changers book series, the queer sports drama follows Shane Hollander (Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) — rival professional hockey players from Canada and Russia, respectively — whose fierce on-ice competition masks a years-long secret romance.

Made on a roughly $9 million budget, the show pulled in over 10.6 million viewers per episode in the U.S. and became HBO’s top-rated non-animated acquired series and one of its top-five scripted debuts of the year. It was renewed for a second season in December 2025, before the Season 1 finale even aired.

“Heated Rivalry represents the very best of what Canadian creators can deliver: rich characters, compelling drama and a world audiences want to live in. The response has been extraordinary,” said Justin Stockman, VP of content and programming at Bell Media, in a statement at the time of the renewal.

Tierney added: “Watching our show become an international phenomenon has been extraordinary. We’re profoundly grateful to everyone that has been on this journey with us. Being renewed for a second season so early is a true honour, and we can’t wait to bring you even more of what you love.”

The show’s breakout success launched both Storrie and Williams into a new tier of stardom — the pair have since presented at the Golden Globes, served as torchbearers at the 2026 Olympic Torch Relay, and attended the Met Gala. Storrie is reportedly in talks to join the A24 comedy Peaked, while Williams is set to star in the Canadian drama Yaga alongside Carrie-Anne Moss and Noah Reid.

@thatnicksmith09

Margaret Cho gagged us with this… @Matteo Lane @themargaretcho #podcast #ineverlikedyou #nicksmith #matteolane

♬ original sound – Nick Smith

Cho has been watching all of it — closely. She’s hosted rewatch parties for the show and says she still feels the sting of what could have been. “It really solidified the fact that as queer people, we’re here,” she said. “Even during this politicized time where our existence has become criminalized, we’re here, and people want to hear our stories, and they want to see us.”

She’s Not Done Trying to Get In

Cho hasn’t given up on the show entirely. She told the podcast that she’s already reached out to the Heated Rivalry team about appearing in Season 2. “I asked them. We’ll see,” she teased.

Season 2 is set to begin filming this summer and is expected to premiere in April 2027. Tierney has confirmed it will draw from The Long Game, the next book in Reid’s series focusing on Shane and Ilya. (Reid’s following novel, Unrivaled, resumes the pair’s story and is due out September 29.) Tierney told Variety in December 2025 that he’s mindful of not rushing: “We understand that everybody’s goal is to not do two years between seasons. And at the same time, I don’t want to put out a rushed shitty second season just because the show is very popular.”

Cho isn’t the only celebrity angling for a piece of the action — former First Lady Dr. Jill Biden has reportedly bid to make a cameo in Season 2 as well.

This isn’t the first time Cho has found herself in an odd orbit around the current political moment. In March, she revealed on another podcast that she was repeatedly asked to appear on Trump’s reality show The Apprentice — because Trump was reportedly “a fan” of her comedy. She declined every time, though she did make a brief appearance in one episode to support her friend Cyndi Lauper during a challenge.

“I was asked several times to be on it, season after season, and they kept saying, ‘Well, Donald Trump really loves you. Please come on,'” Cho recalled. “I just had a bad feeling about it.”

Good instincts, then and now — even if the Heated Rivalry one still stings. “It kills me,” she said one more time. “Like, it kills me.”

The post Margaret Cho Turned Down ‘Heated Rivalry’ Over ICE Fears appeared first on Cream.

• Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie made his Met Gala debut on May 4 in a custom Saint Laurent look styled by James Yardley
• Storrie ripped off his jacket on the carpet to reveal a polka-dot halter top and massive biceps, drawing screams from the crowd
• He accessorized with Tiffany & Co. jewelry and a £49,500 Omega Constellation Observatory Moonshine gold watch
• Storrie attended as a Saint Laurent brand ambassador alongside co-star Hudson Williams, who wore Balenciaga
• The 26-year-old also changed into a second look — a tan blazer, cape, and nothing underneath — for GQ’s after-party

Connor Storrie walked up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday night like he’d been doing it for years. He hadn’t. This was his first Met Gala — and he absolutely knew it.

The Heated Rivalry star made his debut at the 2026 Met Gala in a look that started as one thing and became something else entirely the moment he hit the carpet. Leaving The Carlyle Hotel in a sleek black blazer, Storrie made his way to the steps — and then, in a move that has since set social media completely ablaze, he took the jacket off. What was underneath: a black-and-white polka-dot halter top with a floor-length bow train that cascaded behind him, and arms that have no business existing on a person who was waiting tables in Los Angeles just one year ago.

The crowd screamed. Photographers yelled, “Do that again!” He obliged, flipping the trailing fabric back and forth, letting it flutter in the breeze. Of course he did.

The Look, Broken Down

Storrie attended the gala as a brand ambassador for Saint Laurent — the French house signed him in January, right as Heated Rivalry fever was reaching its peak — and creative director Anthony Vaccarello dressed him accordingly. The look was a riff on the house’s iconic Le Smoking tuxedo: wide-legged black trousers, a black blazer (pre-removal), and that now-famous polka-dot piece — technically a Lavallière top in polka-dotted silk muslin — with a ruffled turtleneck and a dramatically long scarf that trailed several feet behind him like a train. It was, in Storrie’s own words to GQ, “super-duper YSL, super Saint Laurent.”

“We went with a very classic Saint Laurent silhouette: a smoking jacket, super-wide shoulder, very black, very, very classic YSL,” he told GQ. “A wide, uber-straight leg. And then I have this floor-length bow that falls off the back of it. It’s like a pussy-bow top without the sleeves, but then the bow goes in the back and it creates this waterfall train that’s underneath the blazer that we will reveal. So you get kind of a two-beat moment.”

That two-beat moment was very much the point. Stylist James Yardley, who has been building Storrie’s fashion identity since the show launched, told WWD: “From the outset, we knew it was always going to sit within that classic Saint Laurent space, which felt appropriate for his first Met with the brand. My role was to refine and shape what they presented so that Connor felt confident and comfortable in it.” The goal, Yardley said, was something that felt “confident, elegant and authentic” — and the restraint of the look, he added, was its own kind of statement.

For accessories, Storrie pinned a jeweled Jean Schlumberger by Tiffany & Co. Fleurage brooch to his neckline, added diamond drop earrings from the same house, and wore an Omega Constellation Observatory watch in 18-carat moonshine gold — a piece that retails for £49,500, with an 18-carat gold dial that harks back to the first Omega Constellation from 1952. Against the more restrained black of his outfit, it made a quietly spectacular statement. His signature golden curls were styled flat, with strands finger-curled onto his forehead in what Teen Vogue accurately called “baby bangs.”

A Year Ago, He Was Waiting Tables

The scale of Connor Storrie’s ascent is genuinely hard to wrap your head around. As recently noted by Vanity Fair, it was only a year ago last week that Storrie and his Heated Rivalry co-star Hudson Williams were officially announced to lead the cast of the Crave series. Before that, both actors had been waiting tables — Storrie in Los Angeles, Williams in Vancouver. Then the queer hockey drama debuted on HBO in November 2025, captured over 10.6 million U.S. viewers, and turned them both into overnight stars.

Since then, Storrie has presented at the Golden Globes, carried the Olympic torch at the 2026 Winter Olympics, hosted Saturday Night Live in February, signed with Saint Laurent, become a Tiffany & Co. ambassador, and graced the cover of The Hollywood Reporter‘s Power Stylist issue alongside Yardley. This past Saturday night, he landed in New York, dropped his bags, and immediately went straight to 30 Rock — where SNL talent booker Keri Powers, whom he’d bonded with during his own hosting stint, asked if he wanted to introduce Olivia Rodrigo’s new single, “Begged.” He said yes. His nine-second cameo, four words spoken, drew “giddy shrills” from the studio audience.

The Met Gala, then, was simply the next logical step.

“I feel good,” he told GQ ahead of the night. “I mean, I love my look. I’m really happy with what Anthony pulled together, and I’m really happy with the guidance and the ideas that James had. And it’s really cool to watch something start out as just a conversation and a concept and come to fruition.”

As for nerves? He didn’t have any — or at least claimed not to. “I’m really not nervous, to be honest with you,” he said. “I feel like people have explained to me a million times exactly what’s going to happen, and I’m like, I still don’t really know what that looks like. I think it’s going to be a beautiful zoo. It’s going to be some chaos, I can imagine. But yeah, I mean, I feel good.”

He was also refreshingly self-aware about the gender gap in red carpet preparation. “I hear stories of girls being in their cars for an hour not being able to sit,” he said. “I’m sure some of them have started whatever extravagant hair and makeup they have six hours before we even have to get ready to go. So I think comparatively to a lot of other people who are involved, I think I have it pretty easy.”

The Katy Perry Moment, the After-Party Look, and What’s Next

Inside the gala, Storrie had one of the night’s most charming photo moments: standing next to Katy Perry, who arrived in an all-white Stella McCartney ensemble with a chrome-paneled mask that completely obscured her face, Storrie held his own hand over his face in a deadpan mirror of her look. Two faceless attendees at fashion’s biggest night. It was very funny, and very him.

The night didn’t end at the museum. Storrie headed to GQ’s after-party at Twenty Two in Union Square and changed into a second look entirely: a tan blazer and slacks, a flowing chocolate-brown cape, matching shoes — and nothing underneath the jacket. Just his torso, on display, as if the jacket removal on the carpet had been a preview of coming attractions.

His co-star Hudson Williams was also in attendance at the gala, arriving in a powder blue Balenciaga suit — the two of them, once again, dressed by different stylists and once again making the internet lose its mind simply by existing in the same orbit. At the Vanity Fair Oscars party in March, they accidentally matched in sheer looks. Williams’s stylist Anastasia Walker posted about it afterward: “Me and [James Yardley] didn’t plan this lol.”

The 2026 Met Gala, themed “Costume Art” with a dress code of “Fashion Is Art,” was co-chaired by Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour — though the event carried some political undercurrent this year, with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos serving as honorary chairs amid protests and notable absences from stars including Meryl Streep, Zendaya, and Bella Hadid.

For Storrie, none of that seemed to cloud the night. He showed up, he took the jacket off, and the crowd screamed. Heated Rivalry season two starts filming this summer, with a spring 2027 release targeted — and Storrie is also in talks for the A24 comedy Peaked and circling the film Turpentine.

He told Vogue Adria recently that he’s been consciously trying to stay grounded through all of it. “I put a lot of energy into staying grounded in where I am, what I’m doing, who I’m speaking to,” he said. “Someone being loud doesn’t make them right. I’ve also realized I need a creative outlet. Making music, writing, planning films. That brings me back to my center. That’s where I have control. Where I’m not just playing a role.”

Based on Monday night, he’s playing it pretty well regardless.

The post Connor Storrie’s Met Gala Debut Had Fans Screaming appeared first on Cream.