Clavicular, the 20-year-old controversial social media star born Braden Eric Peters, has made the headlines this week after he was arrested in Florida on an assault charge.
Peters is known for popularizing the term “looksmaxxing”, which is the theory that maximising one’s physical appearance — often through aggressive methods and surgical intervention — will lead to success with women.
He is the first star from the online male “looksmaxxing” community, which holds male attractiveness as the key to overarching superiority. He gets his name from the clavicle (the collarbone), a highly prized feature within the online community.
Peters initially went viral on TikTok and Instagram through clips of him “mogging” other men — which means standing next to someone to make them look less attractive by comparison — and brutally rating other people’s appearances.
He now spends about eight hours per day livestreaming on the site Kick, where he receives more than 10,000 concurrent viewers.
As his online presence has grown, Peters has been associated with influencers from the far-right and the manosphere, a corner of the internet where misogynistic ideas are peddled by so-called men's rights activists, incels, and pick-up artists. They typically believe that society is biased against men.
Earlier this year, Peters partied at a Miami nightclub with Nick Fuentes, a far-right commentator, and the manosphere influencer Andrew Tate, who is being reinvestigated for alleged rape and sexual assault offenses first reported in 2014 and 2015.
The New York Times reports that Peters was captured in videos shared online alongside Fuentes and Tate, in which the three men chanted along to the Ye track “Heil Hitler.”
Peters claims to have been “looksmaxxing” his appearance since the age of 14. In an interview with The New York Times published in February, Peters revealed that he had injected and ingested dozens of substances, including testosterone replacement therapy, to “ascend,” which is a looksmaxxing term for becoming more handsome.
Peters, from Hoboken, New Jersey, is the son of a businessman and a stay-at-home mom.
At school, Peters reportedly struggled with small talk, social cues and low self-esteem. He would spend time on Photoshop, readjusting his image to imagine what his face would look like after his desired surgeries.
While Peters has never been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, he frequently refers to himself as an “autist.” He calls his way of seeing the world a “gift.”
On March 26, Peters was taken into custody by Osceola County authorities and faces one count of battery
His bail has been set at $1,000 and his expected release date is listed as April 10.
The arrest came a day before the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced in a statement that it had launched an investigation into a viral clip involving an alligator.
In a video posted this week, Peters is seen riding an airboat with three other people and opening fire on the floating reptile. It’s not clear if Clavicular’s arrest is related to the video.
Under Florida Statute 379.409, it is illegal to kill, injure, possess or capture an alligator unless an individual is authorized to do so. Attempting to kill or injure alligators is also strictly prohibited.
As the investigation continues, the FWC says it will provide information when it becomes “available.”
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