Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams wasn’t afraid to share exactly what he’s looking for on a first date — while being interviewed live on the red carpet at the 2026 Golden Globes.
The rising star, 24, who leads HBO Max’s sexy new sports drama about a secret romance that develops between two rival hockey players, attended Sunday’s ceremony alongside his co-star Connor Storrie.
Stopping for an interview with CBS anchor Gayle King, Williams was asked what made the perfect first date.
“Good conversation, good laughing,” he said, adding with a smile, “and good f***ing.”
His NSFW response left fans shocked, with one writing on X: “No way he just said this to Gayle King…”
“Oh dear!!!!,” a second commented, with a third adding: “Yas we love no filter.”
Elsewhere during the conversation, King shared that throughout the night, all she had heard from around the carpet was excitement that Williams and Storrie were on their way.
“They’re coming, they’re coming, they’re coming,” King chanted. “Yeah, we do that a lot,” Williams quipped.
“Throughout the whole evening, people are saying, ‘Are they here?’” King reiterated. “I wonder what this moment feels like to you at this particular time?”
Taking a moment to think, Williams admitted that “it was more overwhelming a couple of weeks ago,” but has since started to feel “a little bit more gratifying, and I’m just a lot more thankful.
“Because now, I’m meeting people who I really admire and respect, and I’m able to just talk about the thing that I love talking about with them: acting [and] film,” he said.
Last week, Williams appeared on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM show Radio Andy and revealed that since the release of Heated Rivalry, he has received messages from closeted professional athletes.
“The people who reach out, somewhat anonymously, who are like, ‘I’m a professional player still, and I’m still in the closet,’” Williams said.
“Hockey players, football players, basketball players, yeah,” he said. “So, then they’re reaching out to Rachel [Reid], our author, who will then kind of relay these lovely anonymous emails. And sometimes they’re just reaching out privately through, like, Instagram. And those ones are the ones that really just kind of hit you and go, ‘Oh, so this is a fun show, and it’s celebratory, but also sometimes it’s just hitting people right in the nerve.’”
The 83rd annual Golden Globes honored the best in film and television from the past year, with Paul Thomas Anderson’s Leonardo DiCaprio-starring dark comedy One Battle After Another leading the film nominees and HBO Max’s wealth satire The White Lotus hoping to dominate in the TV categories.
Stand-up comedian Nikki Glaser returned as host for the second year in a row after previously making Globes history in 2025 as the first woman to emcee the ceremony solo.
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