‘Heated Rivalry,’ ‘Stranger Things’ among 2026 GLAAD Media Awards winners
Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams in ‘Heated Rivalry.’ (Sabrina Lantos/HBO Max)
Heated Rivalry and Stranger Things won big at the GLAAD Media Awards on Thursday night.
The popular Crave and HBO Max show Heated Rivalry won outstanding new TV series, while Netflix’s Stranger Things won outstanding drama series for its fifth and final season.
While Hudson Williams couldn’t make it to the awards ceremony, Heated Rivalry‘s other stars Connor Storrie, François Arnaud and Robbie Graham-Kuntz took to the stage to accept one of the evening’s top awards.
Other TV winners include The Traitors for outstanding reality competition program and Southern Hospitality for outstanding reality program.
On the film side of things, it was Kiss of the Spider Woman that took home the prize for outstanding wide theatrical release, while outstanding limited theatrical release was a tie between Nice Indian Boy and Plainclothes.
Additionally, Liza Minnelli made a surprise appearance at the end of the ceremony to accept the inaugural Liza Minnelli Storyteller Award. The crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to her ahead of her 80th birthday, which is on March 12.
“I’m so glad to be here with you, all of you. You make me so proud, ‘cause you’re strong, and you stand up for what you believe in,” Minnelli said.
Billy Crystal and Rob Reiner attend the Hand and Footprint Ceremony: Billy Crystal at the 2019 10th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival on April 12, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Charley Gallay/Getty Images for TCM)
Several friends of the late Rob Reiner and Michele Singer are remembering the couple after they were found stabbed to death in their home in California on Sunday.
BillyCrystal and Janice Crystal, Albert Brooks and Kimberly Brooks, Martin Short, Alan Zweibel and Robin Zweibel, Larry David and Ashley Underwood, Marc Shaiman and Lou Mirabal, Barry Levinson and Diana Levinson, and Ambassador James Costos and Michael Smith shared a joint statement with The Associated Press on Tuesday, paying tribute to the couple, who were frequent collaborators and worked together on several iconic classic films, including When Harry Met Sally… and Misery.
The statement memorialized Rob Reiner as an unparalleled director who “was always at the top of his game.”
“Absorbing all he had learned from his father Carl (Reiner) and his mentor Norman Lear, Rob Reiner not only was a great comic actor, he became a master story teller,” it read. “There is no other director who has his range. From comedy to drama to ‘mockumentary’ to documentary he was always at the top of his game. He charmed audiences. They trusted him. They lined up to see his films.”
“His comedic touch was beyond compare, his love of getting the music of the dialogue just right, and his sharpening of the edge of a drama was simply elegant,” the statement continued. “For the actors, he loved them. For the writers he made them better. His greatest gift was freedom. If you had an idea, he listened, he brought you into the process. They always felt they were working as a team. To be in his hands as a film maker was a privilege but that is only part of his legacy.”
Rob Reiner and Singer were also remembered for their activism.
“Rob was also a passionate, brave citizen, who not only cared for this country he loved, he did everything he could to make it better and with his loving wife Michele, he had the perfect partner,” their friends wrote. “Strong and determined, Michele and Rob Reiner devoted a great deal of their lives for the betterment of our fellow citizens. … They were a special force together-dynamic, unselfish and inspiring. We were their friends, and we will miss them forever.”
The friends ended their statement with a quote from what they said was one of Rob Reiner’s favorite films.
“There is a line from one of Rob’s favorite films, It’s a Wonderful Life, ‘Each man’s life touches so many other lives, and when he isn’t around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?'” they wrote. “You have no idea.”
Rob Reiner and Singer were found dead with stab wounds on Sunday in their Los Angeles home.
The couple’s son Nick Reiner was taken into custody on Sunday night and has since been charged by the Los Angeles district attorney with two counts of first-degree murder in relation to his parents’ deaths. He is currently being held without bail.
If convicted, the 32-year-old could face the death penalty.
Jazz is known for his unique style and entrepreneurial spirit on Bel-Air — andwhile that will remain true in the fourth and final season of the Peacock series, Jordan L. Jones says two themes define his character’s journey this time around.
“What you have to look for … [with] my character is obviously more vulnerability,” he tells ABC Audio. “But I also think acceptance is one of the themes that Jazz is going to go through.”
Jordan clarifies that this acceptance isn’t about resignation. “Not acceptance in a bad way, like, ‘Oh, something bad happened, I have to accept it,’ but just accepting whatever comes … being open to whatever. … You learn more about Jazz that he’s actually just OK with acceptance. And he is a very strong individual.”
Regarding Jazz’s relationship with Will, played by Jabari Banks, Jordan says Jazz remains a mentor and steady presence. As the series comes to an end, he notes there’s “not a hard ending” to their friendship.
“It’s not like Will and Jazz and Carlton never see each other again,” he explains. “It’s like that college experience where we have to leave each other, but we still have each other.”
Jimmy Akingbola also talked to ABC Audio about his character Geoffrey’s arc as the Banks family’s estate manager. He says the final season forces Geoffrey to confront his past and his present.
“The final season explores Geoffrey’s past in such a deep and impactful way, to the point where Geoffrey has to stop — I’ll use the word running,” Jimmy says. “For the first time … he doesn’t have the answers. Normally Geoffrey has something handled before someone’s thought about it,” noting that now “his back [is] against the wall.”
Jimmy adds that Geoffrey is “fractured” this season, unsure whether healing is possible as his past arrives on his doorstep and challenges his loyalty.
New episodes of Bel-Air premiere Monday on Peacock.
Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner attend Human Rights Campaign’s 2025 Los Angeles Dinner, March 22, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
Jake Reiner and Romy Reiner, the children of renowned Hollywood director Rob Reiner and wife MicheleSinger Reiner, are speaking out for the first time after their brother, Nick Reiner, was arrested for allegedly killing their parents.
“Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day,” Jake Reiner and Romy Reiner said in a statement released by a family spokesperson on Wednesday. “The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends.”
“We are grateful for the outpouring of condolences, kindness, and support we have received not only from family and friends but people from all walks of life,” Jake Reiner and Romy Reiner said. “We now ask for respect and privacy, for speculation to be tempered with compassion and humanity, and for our parents to be remembered for the incredible lives they lived and the love they gave.”
Nick Reiner, 32, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, with the special circumstance of multiple murders, for allegedly stabbing his parents to death on Sunday, according to prosecutors.
Romy Reiner is the one who found her parents’ bodies in their Brentwood home on Sunday, sources told ABC News.
Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, who met while Rob Reiner was directing When Harry Met Sally…, married in 1989 and shared three children. Rob Reiner is also survived by daughter Tracy Reiner with his first wife, Penny Marshall.
