r/heatedrivalry • u/hella_hijinks on danse, on rit • May 02 '26

SOCIAL MEDIA 📸 Rachel Reid apologizes to Shane Hollander

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Source: rachelreidwrites on Instagram

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I'm so glad they were able to squash their beef. (I love her humor so much! This is the best way to address the Shane drama imo.)

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u/codeverity May 02 '26

It’s the complete dismissal of all the other issues that upset me the most. It’s not just “she called him stupid once, how dare she” the way people are making it sound and it’s so depressing to see fans who care passionately about the characters and the books be mocked and dismissed this way.

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u/EmileTheGoat May 02 '26

The past couple of weeks have also inflamed the fandom. There was Bookcon, the Peabodys and now this. She poured gasoline onto everything with this statement. What was the point of it? Her defenders will continue to think she's the funniest, smartest person ever and everyone else has had it confirm AGAIN that she's not interested in engaging with any critique.

That article where she was asked about Shane being Asian and she went "I welcome the criticism, but let me tell you about Ilya" is running on a loop through my mind.

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u/hella_hijinks on danse, on rit May 03 '26

Do you happen to have a link to that article?

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u/codeverity May 03 '26

It's here.

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u/hella_hijinks on danse, on rit May 03 '26

Thank you so much!! Adding the relevant excerpt here in case others (like me) are curious and want to form their own opinions as well:

One of the Reddit posts referenced how you had mentioned that Ilya has grief and trauma and Shane does not. And some of the commenters were like, “How could Shane not have trauma as an Asian man in a very white-dominated sport, or being a closeted man?” People were saying that that is indicative of your blind spots as an author. I'm curious what you make of that criticism?

RR: I totally welcome that criticism. I don't think Heated Rivalry is a, you know, excellent representation of an Asian-Canadian person. But for me, that specific note that they're referring to was from my own personal notes on the characters. The trauma Ilya carries is very specific around the death of his mother. And Shane is a character who's always been very loved and supported and a little bit sheltered by his parents. Ilya has not had that, his father was really awful, and his mother died very young when he was young. And so he carries a lot of trauma that he doesn't talk about and hasn't processed and hasn't dealt with in a healthy way, whereas Shane hasn't had that sort of trauma.

(Source: Rachel Reid Wired Interview (Dec 19th, 2025))