‘Looksmaxxing’ influencer known as 'Clavicular' is charged with rape in
Massachusetts
[September 23, 2026]
By LEAH WILLINGHAM
BOSTON (AP) — The social media influencer “Clavicular,” who gained a
following promoting the online “looksmaxxing” trend, has been charged in
Massachusetts with raping a 17-year-old girl who told police she became
heavily intoxicated after he gave her alcohol at his family's Cape Cod
home.
Braden Peters, 20, is charged with rape, administering a substance for
sexual intercourse and procuring alcohol for a person under 21 in the
alleged May 23, 2025, assault in Chatham, according to court records. A
clerk-magistrate found probable cause for the charges on Sept. 4, and a
criminal complaint was issued Sept. 8.
An email and text message were sent to Peters' publicist seeking comment
Tuesday. Peters, who lives in Florida and is not in custody, is
scheduled to be arraigned in Massachusetts on Oct. 14.
“We are not commenting at this time since the proper authorities are
handling this,” said Andrew Moss, one of the teen's attorneys.
The accuser told Chatham police that she and Peters began messaging on
Instagram and that he later paid her to appear in “looksmaxxing” videos
he streamed online. She said Peters knew she was 17 but that he told her
to tell his viewers that she was 18 and that vodka he gave her was
water, according to a police report.
On May 23, 2025, the girl said she took a rideshare from her
grandparents’ home to Peters’ family home on Morris Island, a gated
community of multimillion-dollar homes overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
She told police she was greeted by Peters’ mother and grandmother before
being escorted by Peters to his room, where he was livestreaming on
Twitch.
She told police she drank what she believed amounted to two or three
shots of vodka and became increasingly intoxicated. An officer who
reviewed clips from Peters’ livestream said one showed the girl telling
Peters, “Wait I’m so drunk though.” Peters responded, “It’s OK,” before
the two kissed, according to the police report.
After the livestream ended, she said, they went to his bedroom, where
she later fell asleep and awoke the next morning to Peters raping her.
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 The alleged assault was previously
described in a lawsuit filed against Peters in Florida in April. An
amended complaint filed in June accused Peters of sexual battery
over the Cape Cod encounter. The lawsuit also accuses Peters of
later injecting the girl with a fat-dissolving substance during a
livestream without consent.
Peters’ attorneys have denied the lawsuit’s allegations, saying in a
July court filing that the encounter was consensual and calling the
lawsuit a “publicity grab.” Attorneys for Peters in the Florida
civil matter did not return an email seeking comment about the
Massachusetts charges.
Peters, the face of the “looksmaxxing” trend, is a well-known social
media and internet personality whose pursuit of achieving
traditional attractiveness by any means necessary became the subject
of intense interest and discourse early this year.
He livestreams his activities on close to a daily basis, often
streaming his time at parties and clubs or talking with women. His
largest followings are on TikTok, Instagram and the streaming
platform Kick.
“Looksmaxxing” has origins that trace back to the “involuntary
celibate” or “incel” community, an online subculture made of people,
primarily men, who believe society unjustly denies them sexual or
romantic attention. Peters has denied being linked to the group in
any way and said many times that looksmaxxing is about
self-improvement.
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Associated Press journalist Kaitlyn Huamani contributed from Los
Angeles.
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