American social media influencer Braden Eric Peters, who stirred controversy during his visit to Israel this summer, has been charged in Massachusetts with rape, drugging a person for sex and providing alcohol to a minor.
Peters, known to his followers as “Clavicular,” came to Tel Aviv as part of a provocative international tour featuring livestreams, a filmed date and a vague promise of a “collab” with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Two months after he left Israel angrily, the controversy surrounding him has moved into a far more serious arena.
The charges were filed in a Cape Cod court and relate to an alleged incident on May 23, 2025. Peters, 20, is due to be arraigned Oct. 14.
According to a police report filed with the court, the complainant, who was 16 at the time and an aspiring social media influencer, went to Peters’ family home in Chatham after he arranged transportation for her. She told investigators she hoped meeting one of the biggest figures in the “looksmaxxing” scene — an internet subculture that encourages young men to improve their social standing by changing their appearance, sometimes through extreme measures — would help her build an audience.
She told investigators that Peters served her glasses of vodka while livestreaming their meeting and instructed her to tell the camera that she was 18.
According to the police report, Peters had sex with her several times after the livestream ended while she was so intoxicated that she was unable to consent. The teenager alleged that the following morning she awoke to Peters penetrating her while she was asleep.
The age of consent in Massachusetts is 16, but the allegations do not rest solely on her age. She alleges that the alcohol Peters provided left her incapable of consenting.
The woman filed a civil lawsuit in Florida in April detailing similar allegations. According to the lawsuit, Peters initially paid her $1,000 for four videos and promised to make her the “female face of looksmaxxing.”
Clavicular
(Photo: Instagram)
She also alleged that he later injected her face without her consent with Aqualyx, a fat-dissolving injectable treatment that is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. She said he later sought to discredit her online and damaged her sponsorship deals.
Peters has denied the allegations. His attorneys said he is innocent but declined to elaborate.
His spokesperson, Mitchell Jackson, stressed that Peters had not been arrested and had not yet been formally served with the charges. Jackson accused The Bulwark, which first reported the charges, of sensationalizing the case to attract an audience.
After the allegations became public, Peters posted messages about the complainant online, called the lawsuit “petty” and suggested that she was motivated by money.
It is not Peters’ first encounter with law enforcement this year. In February, he was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona, on suspicion of possessing a fake identification card, an Adderall pill and a steroid, but the charges were dismissed.
A month later, he was arrested in Florida on suspicion of organizing a fight between two women. That case was also closed.
In May, Peters was sentenced to six months of probation and 20 hours of community service after pleading no contest to a charge stemming from an incident in which he shot the carcass of an alligator during a livestream.
Clavicular in Tel Aviv
(Photo: Instagram)
Peters has rapidly become one of the most recognizable figures associated with “looksmaxxing.” The subculture grew in part out of online “incel” forums — communities of men who describe themselves as involuntarily celibate and often blame women for rejecting them — but has since expanded into a broader online movement focused on helping young men improve their perceived attractiveness and status.
Its practices range from grooming, exercise and lifestyle changes to cosmetic procedures and more extreme interventions.
In his livestreams, Peters rates the appearances of women and men, discusses hormone treatments and cosmetic procedures and documents extreme experiments involving his own body.
The name “Clavicular,” derived from the word clavicle, or collarbone, is a reference, Peters has said, to what he considers the “perfect” 49.5-centimeter distance between his collarbones.
His provocative persona has also become lucrative. U.S. media reports have estimated that he earns more than $100,000 a month from the livestreaming platform Kick alone.
When Peters arrived in Israel in July, the cameras rarely stopped rolling. He ate at kosher restaurants, exercised along Tel Aviv’s beachfront promenade, posed for selfies with young fans, went on a date in front of viewers and happened to meet Netanyahu adviser Topaz Luk at a nightclub.
Peters claimed that plans were being made for him to work out with Netanyahu, whom he called “The Big Yahu.” Luk denied that claim and said he had only demanded that Peters apologize for his previous conduct and visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum.
Another controversy erupted after an IDF spokesperson joined one of Peters’ livestreams without coordinating with her commanders. The military said her conduct would be addressed through disciplinary proceedings.
Video sparks outrage: Peters parties to Kanye West’s ‘Heil Hitler’
Peters’ visit to Israel also drew scrutiny over a video from January filmed at Miami’s Vendôme nightclub in which he appeared alongside Israeli businessman and convicted criminal Hai Vaknin.
The video showed Peters with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, Andrew Tate and streamer Sneako as the group partied while Kanye West’s “Heil Hitler” played.
During an interview with Israeli television program “Hatzinor” on Channel 13, journalist Bar Shem-Or asked Peters whether he had come to Israel to apologize and why he refused to say he was sorry.
Peters became angry. He demanded that the interview focus on what he described as the “good” he had done for Israel, claimed he had improved the country’s image internationally, removed his earpiece and declared: “This interview is over.”
Hours later, Peters started another livestream on Kick and accused the Israeli media of ingratitude.
“Instead of thanking me for coming, they started trashing me,” he said.
Peters then announced that he was cutting his visit short and would leave Israel the following day.