‘Looksmaxxing’ influencer known as ‘Clavicular’ is charged with rape in Massachusetts

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.

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.” An attorney 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.