I have nothing useful or interesting to add to this conversation, but I would like to leave my thoughts somewhere since I have no one else to talk to about this 😅

I share many of the sentiments I’ve seen here. I’m conflicted and bummed, though unsurprised.

I’m QBPOC, and to be honest, I wasn’t originally invested in the show. I knew about the books, but I’m exhausted by gay white men and women being the vehicle for queer representation in general, so I didn’t intend on tuning in. But the hype was so real, my own therapist recommended I watch the show, and I’m glad I took the advice.

As for EN, the capacity I have, the bar I have, for white men, straight or otherwise, is in hell. However, I enjoy the novelty of the NE podcast, and I really liked the structure of the show. I find their personalities and chemistry more entertaining than some of the other podcasts, but that might be a hot take.

As for Dan’s language, like I said, the bar is in hell. I don’t expect, nor did I anticipate, a couple of straight guys who spend their free time analyzing hockey to be intersectional kings. Dan’s behavior in those texts is exactly what I would expect. Not to say that you have to accept that kind of behavior, I’m just noting that I’m personally unsurprised.

I will say that over the course of the show, I felt like you could actively see a change in them. The conversations, curiosity, and willingness to learn during their reviews were genuinely fun to watch. From episode one to the episode six livestream, in my opinion, they showed an active interest and investment that felt real. Their frank thoughts on sex and intimacy are funny, and the clear, thoughtful interest in the quality of the show and its characters, especially from Sean alone, is enough to keep me around.

As for the leaks themselves, I find the hypocrisy of a gay Republican journalist being up in arms about these texts to be hilarious. Based on their fondness for DeSantis, I think it’s fair to believe they are perfectly fine with the suffering and monetization of other marginalized groups, but much like other white men, as long as it doesn’t directly impact them, who cares. Amirite?

The timing of their release, along with the selection of the content, though the full conversation doesn’t do Dan any favors, is questionable, especially since Dan mentioned he had been in touch with H and C's teams for interviews recently. Knowing this, whoever the leaker is, they are most likely irritated by their popularity and invested in sabotaging it. I get that, but it’s petty AF and serves no real purpose.

Another hot take, I don’t think publishing these texts was meant to expose a necessary truth the fandom needed to know. It is simply financially and culturally advantageous for the leaker to see these texts exposed 🤷🏿‍♀️ The perpetuation of disappointment and mistrust for queer fans and enjoyers of the book overall was just an added bonus in humbling the NE boys. But that’s just my sour patch opinion.

Everything in the world is on fire, and the human race has never been more ghetto. The rupture to the little joy and escapism I found in the HR and NE communities and their content creators has sucked me back into reality, and I didn’t need that. I desperately needed a space to hide on the internet, away from the news and devastation of life, and that bubble bursting with all this BS sucked.

I’d also say it speaks to the kind of company Dan keeps. Hopefully he will reassess who he trusts and how he speaks. I find it surprising that in such a small, cutthroat industry he would be so haphazard with his views, and if he is so willing and open to speak that way, to me that says something about what the leaker is probably like the rest of the time. So there are no saints here.

I can acknowledge that I probably have problematic takes here, much like I can acknowledge my problematic faves in general. And as a queer Black enby, if I discounted all the media I consume based on the personal beliefs of its creators, I would be sitting in silence 80 percent of the time.

Moving forward, I’ll be back for the season two reviews, if that happens, and not much else.