It's annoying to me to see people dismiss the hopes and subsequent disappointments over a fat or chubby Harris. I see a lot of people say that Harris was never described as fat, sure – but he is described as "pudgy, unathletic, stocky." Which blatantly indicates a chubby, not-skinny body type. Being chubby is not that different to being fat, sometimes they are used synonymously – fatness is a spectrum. He has moments where he is insecure about his body type in comparison to Troy and all of the hockey players. He is the only character in the Game Changers universe, as far as im aware (correct me if I'm wrong), who is descibed to be chubby. He's also physically disabled, which stops him from engaging in strenuous exercise. He is supposed to be a regular, unathletic person who does not fit conventional beauty standards.
Fat/chubby gay men are a big part of the community and gay culture, see: bears. And Harris is honestly portrayed to be closer to a bear than anything else. Do you know how incredible it would have been, for a show like Heated Rivalry, to have a chubby/fat disabled gay man as a main love interest and shown to be [sexually] desirable? There is no real reason they could not have depicted that, because that is what the book shows. I've seen people go, "what did you expect from Heated Rivalry?" Well, it's the book canon! And the people who work on this show give the impression they care about representation. The idea you should for some reason Expect them to not cast chubby actors for chubby roles, is a problem – it's fatphobia. It's cowardly. And even if he is "chubby, not fat" there would be nothing stopping them from casting a fat actor, either! Representation matters! Justice Smith, bless his soul (the criticism lies with the casting crew, not at all him! I'm happy for him and have faith he will act incredibly as Harris!), is not even close to chubby.
It's amazing that they cast a black man and diversified these painfully white couples. But, they could've cast a chubby black man. It's not mutually exclusive, they don't cancel each other out.
I'm sorry, but they have kinda erased a marginalised, under-represented aspect of a character. They made a conscious decision to erase it, knowing people would be disappointed. And it's an unfair position for Justice to be in – he will probably already get harassment from racists for being a black man playing a guy who was white and blonde in the book, but now there's other reasons people are unhappy about his casting. I feel bad for him!
We are living in a crazy ED and ozempic culture right now. The majority of media only ever depicts/prioritizes (unnaturally) skinny people. Fat characters are so often erased and dismissed. Fat/chubby characters as the love interests? It's not common. Fat/chubby people deserve, NEED this representation. It's important. You should care about fat/chubby people getting more representation, please.
So, I think it absolutely fair for people to mourn the chance of a queer love story showing a chubby/fat man as loved and desirable. Especially in these current times, and especially because the core of Heated Rivalry/Game Changers is love and acceptance.