The hosts of the Empty Netters podcast, Dan and Chris Powers, have sparked a huge amount of backlash after their private texts about Heated Rivalry leaked.
After dropping in the US and Canada, the Empty Netters, who are also former hockey players themselves, sat down to watch Heated Rivalry. Their reactions went mega viral, and the straight men were applauded for their reactionary videos. In this week alone, their viral videos were covered (and celebrated) by the likes of Rolling Stone and Vulture.
“They’re like, ‘Were you expecting a hockey show? Wrong. This is horned-up action baby. Strap in,” they said in one video. “And I was like, ‘Let’s f**ing go.’”
However, despite being surprisingly positive in public, in private, the Empty Netters lads had very different opinions about Heated Rivalry.
“I think these losers who made this show are cowards,” Dan wrote in one text message, which was viewed by Outsports. “This is the trash they make because it panders, it’s provocative, and it checks inclusivity boxes.”
He said that while the show is made to make “blue haired twitter happy”, he wouldn’t give the show “the time of day” simply “out of principle.”
Outsports reported that their business boomed as a result of covering Heated Rivalry, with their viewership on YouTube increasing by 50 times. They averaged around 13,500 views on their other videos, but their Heated Rivalry clips averaged 500,000 views. They even launched merch, flogging $32 t-shirts and $45 crew necks with the words “From the closet to the cottage.”
Though many people assumed that straight bros watching Heated Rivalry was a disaster waiting to happen, we thought they’d proved us wrong. Sadly not.
The Empty Netters have responded to the Heated Rivalry drama
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In an Instagram post on January 23, Empty Netters host Dan addressed the backlash surrounding his honest feelings about Heated Rivalry.
“Here are the texts. Our response to the Outsport article,” he captioned the post.
In the video, Dan did not deny that he’d sent those text messages. However, he said that the Outsport article had the timeline wrong; he’d sent those messages before sitting down to watch the show – I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse.
He revealed the infamous text messages himself, adding further context about how he prefaced his statement by calling it a “lame writer’s take.” He wanted an authentic hockey show, not smut, which he admitted was “uninformed; I hadn’t watched the show yet.”
“It feels kinda crazy to be bitter and angry at us for enjoying the show,” he also said.
Dan further condemned the person who leaked the messages, describing them as a “good friend” whom he is now disappointed in.
This issue doesn’t seem so cut and dry, and even in the comments, people were divided. That being said, it’s always a good idea to watch something before you form an opinion on it.
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Featured image credit: Empty Netters/HBO
