Ice-cool Ilya Rozanov is canonically a Bad Bunny fan and the internet won’t stop talking about it
Heated Rivalry, the queer sports romance series officially taking over pop culture, has birthed a true global phenomenon. Since the show hit screens in November, actors Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie (Heated Rivalry’s onscreen couple) have kept the world invested. Whether starring in internet-breaking moments at Fashion Week or making highly publicized cameos at some of the world’s biggest stages, including red carpets and Olympic events, the pair is all over the internet, including Bad Bunny fan spaces.
Based on the Rachel Reid book of the same name, Heated Rivalry and its astronomical success have sparked renewed interest in the Game Changers series; Reid’s books narrating queer love stories between hockey players. In fact, according to Out, three novels from Reid’s series, which also feature Heated Rivalry, made it into the 2025 Top 10 of most-borrowed LGBTQ+ e-books at Hoopla, an online service for library cardholders.
As people peruse the pages of Reid’s books, enjoying every bit of the love story between Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov, the most attentive readers have discovered an unexpected connection between the ice-cool Rozanov and pop culture icon Bad Bunny—yes, the same Bad Bunny who took home the award for Album of the Year at the 2026 Grammys and the same Bad Bunny who’s headlining the Super Bowl LX halftime performance.
Ilya Rozanov, portrayed by Connor Storrie onscreen, is canonically a Bad Bunny enjoyer.
Badbo’s music is, in fact, part of Ilya’s pregame playlist. Fans of the Game Changers series have found a passage in The Long Game (Heated Rivalry’s sequel) that openly describes Ilya listening to a Bad Bunny song. Most specifically, he listens to the world’s favorite Boricua on his way to a match, hyping himself up because he knows his teammate Evan Dykstra will be playing country music in the locker room. (We get you, Ilya!)
Naysayers might argue that everybody is a Bad Bunny listener today; others might say finding a connection between our favorite fictional Russian hockey player and Benito ain’t that deep. However, the mental image of Ilya jamming to songs like “Me Porto Bonito” or “Neverita,” is just too good to ignore.
ALSO ILYA CONFIRMED BAD BUNNY FAN, like mi gente fr🙂↕️ pic.twitter.com/XmFvPQLDo5
— sash♡₊˚ 🦢 skzball (@stsgmins) December 9, 2025
And yes, we know… given the state of the world, there’s probably deeper, bigger and certainly more urgent stories to share, but a lighthearted story about the rare crossover between the biggest cultural phenomena of 2025 hurts nobody. In fact, for thousands of entertainment and music fans out there, this piece of information has come at the best moment—right when Bad Bunny has asserted his cultural domination and sparked conversations across fields about his artistry.
With his political statements and music celebrating his Puerto Rican heritage and denouncing social issues, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, aka. Bad Bunny has broken boundaries and borders, resonating with audiences worldwide. Beyond his standing as a musical sensation, Bad Bunny has put Puerto Rico and Latin America in the limelight, shredding decades-long erasure of Boricua, Caribbean and Latin American cultural prowess.
Heated Rivalry echoes a similar type of success, putting queer love and fandom front and center.
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The internet, of course, is here for the unexpected connection between the utter sensation Benito is and one of the most beloved characters to come from queer TV shows/books in recent years. Viral social media posts, video edits and deep dives into Ilya’s playlist are all over social media. (What do you think Ilya’s favorite Bad Bunny song is? We have a couple of ideas.)
the concept of ilya canonically being a bad bunny fan. come collect your honorary latino card my king. pic.twitter.com/ptX5EnS10g
— soph❤️🔥 (@sophiebegins) January 2, 2026
I love that Rachel Reid wrote in that Ilya canonically is a bad bunny fan. I know EoO was his hype song
— shane hollander’s lawyer btw (@hollanovslawyer) January 3, 2026
To cap it off, here are two pieces of information that might get Heated Rivalry fans excited. Hudson Williams, who plays Shane Hollander on Crave’s breakthrough show, has also name-dropped Bad Bunny as one of his favorite musical discoveries.
Plus, Bad Bunny might also soon dip his toes into the Male/Male media storytelling. The star is listed as the executive producer of They Both Die At The End, a TV adaptation of the New York Times bestselling YA novel by the same name. The show was announced in 2022 and will reportedly be co-written by Bridgerton (Netflix) creator Chris Van Dusen.
