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Back to The Sam Sanders Show

The Sam Sanders Show

How Queer Was 2025?

Queerness is everywhere on screen now. But is it the representation we fought for?

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    By Sam Sanders • Dec 9, 2025 • 1 min read

    HBO’s new gay romance series Heated Rivalry has the internet… feeling things. It tells the steamy story of two feuding hockey players who secretly desire (and devour) each other. The series rounds out a long list of queer pop culture moments from 2025. Alex Abad Santos, correspondent at Vox, joins Sam to look back on it all. 

    From I Love LA to the re-release of Brokeback Mountain, they break down the Year in Queer entertainment, and ask what representation in media can still accomplish today. They also look at the shifting landscape of Hollywood studios. What could it all mean for future queer representation?

    Sign up for Sam’s Newsletter to get behind the scenes stuff from every interview each week.

    The Sam Sanders Show is a production of KCRW and Sam Sanders Productions.

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      Sam Sanders

      host of “The Sam Sanders Show”

    • Tyler Greene

      Tyler Greene

      Showrunner

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      Bennett Purser

      Senior Producer, The Sam Sanders Show

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      Andrea Bautista

      Producer

    • KCRW placeholder

      Alex Abad-Santos

      senior culture reporter, Vox

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