Clavicular (influencer)
American online streamer (born 2005)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Braden Eric Peters (born December 17, 2005), best known by his online moniker Clavicular, is an American livestreamer, internet personality, and influencer. He became known in 2025 on TikTok and Kick for his "looksmaxxing" content, which commentators have described as extreme and controversial, particularly for his advocacy of practices including facial "bonesmashing", the practice of hitting one's face with a hammer;[2] taking anabolic steroids; and using crystal meth as an appetite suppressant.[1][3][4]
December 17, 2005
- Online streamer
- influencer
Clavicular | |
|---|---|
Mug shot of Peters in 2026 | |
| Born | Braden Eric Peters December 17, 2005 |
| Other name | Clav[1] |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 2025–present |
| Known for | |
| Kick information | |
| Channel | |
| Genre | In-real-life |
| Followers | 403 thousand |
| TikTok information | |
| Page | |
| Followers | 1.1 million |
| Last updated: July 20, 2026 | |
In December 2025, a livestream clip of Peters hitting a man with a Tesla Cybertruck went viral online and brought him to wider attention.[5] Other controversies have included an interview with right-wing political commentator Michael Knowles in which he insulted United States vice president JD Vance over his appearance, and associations with far-right streamers.[3]
Early life
Braden Eric Peters[6] was born on December 17, 2005, to a businessman father and stay-at-home mother.[7][8] He was raised in Hoboken, New Jersey, and attended Seton Hall Preparatory School in West Orange, New Jersey.[9] He has stated that he became interested in looksmaxxing—a term originating among incel messaging boards in the early 2010s,[10] that describes the process of making oneself as physically attractive as possible—in high school, which he has attributed to wanting to influence others politically by becoming more attractive.[11]
Peters began injecting himself with testosterone supplements at age 14 while at home during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Peters described this period as being "online for 14 hours a day", browsing looksmaxxing forums, playing Grand Theft Auto V and skipping online classes.[12][13] Peters has stated in interviews that he would often hide his testosterone supplements from his parents, and when caught he would be sent to live with his grandmother.[14]
Peters was expelled after "just three weeks" from Sacred Heart University[15] in Fairfield, Connecticut for his use of "peptides and 'roids".[16]
Career
Looksmaxxing content
Peters became popular online by 2025 for his content focused on looksmaxxing on both Kick and TikTok.[1][17] His alias is based on the emphasis placed on clavicle width within the looksmaxxing community.[18] He instructs fans on how to "ascend", or to become more attractive and ostensibly gain social power and sexual prospects as a result, and to "hardmaxx", a looksmaxxing term for undergoing intense and painful physical alterations.[4][19] “Looksmaxxing is the most well-rounded form of self-improvement, just almost taking it to its logical conclusion,” Peters said on Hang Out with Sean Hannity. His looksmaxxing content includes “just traditional bodybuilding and fitness style stuff, as well as a new focus on sort of facial esthetics,” he explains. “And that’s been missing from a lot of like the male red pill stuff and male self- improvement was emphasis on the face, and you know, a lot more of the emphasis was on just the physique and training and all that kind of stuff.”[20]
He has participated in and advocated for looksmaxxing practices such as "bonesmashing", a pseudoscientific practice involving hitting one's bones with a hammer or one's fist in order to have them grow back stronger, and taking crystal meth to suppress his appetite and remain thin.[3][21] He has spoken about taking anabolic steroids over several years to become more muscular, which, according to him, made him infertile by 2025 due to his body no longer naturally producing testosterone.[22] By late 2025, he also began selling access to a self-improvement and looksmaxxing course called the "Clavicular System", later called "Clavicular's Clan", for $50 per month.[19] The course provides guides on how to "ascend" and on suggested peptides to inject in order to do so.[23]
For Wired, Jason Parham wrote in September 2025 that Peters was one of looksmaxxing's "most popular influencers".[24] In January 2026, Thomas Chatterton Williams of The Atlantic referred to him as the "newest star" and "most recognizable member" of the looksmaxxing movement, Charlie Sabgir of Rolling Stone called him "a premier figure" within looksmaxxing, and Dave Schilling of The Guardian called him "one of the most prominent influencers in the looksmaxxing community".[18][25][26] According to Joseph Bernstein of The New York Times, by February 2026, he was earning more than $100,000 a month from his Kick livestreams.[4] A November 2025 video of him injecting his then 17-year-old girlfriend with fat-dissolving peptides to reshape her jaw also gained attention online.[27][28] In a later stream, he injected influencer Jenny Popach with Aqualyx, a fat-dissolving acid.[23]
In November 2025, YouTube terminated Peters's original channel for facilitating access to websites selling regulated goods, cancelling two additional channels in April 2026 for “severe or repeated violations.”[29] Although he attempted to return to the platform with other channels, YouTube permanently terminated these accounts in April 2026, citing a violation of its terms of service regarding ban evasion.[30][31]
Russian television presenter and journalist Ksenia Sobchak publicly criticized Peters, describing his looksmaxxing content as harmful, arguing his online image "reflects increasingly extreme views and unhealthy attitudes toward self-image."[32] Peters sees his message as useful, noting:[20]
Going to the clubs, it shows the very nature of hypergamy and kind of the reasoning behind the whole philosophy of looksmaxxing, why it’s important. Only about 2% of the people in nightlife that you see are gonna have success with women, are gonna be able to take a girl home and have a one night stand with her, right? 2%. So most people in the clubs stand literally no chance.
Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet sees Peters' looksmaxxing message as part of a "giant red warning sign" reflecting "a growing mentorship vacuum among young men searching for guidance." As he sees it:[33]
Young men are going to be looking for mentors… [they] are looking for voices that will make sense of the chaos, that will help them navigate a very tumultuous social scene. They need help… and this is what Clavicular is offering them.
Tesla Cybertruck incident
On December 24, 2025, a video from a livestream of Peters hitting a man with a Tesla Cybertruck in Miami-Dade County quickly circulated online. In the video, the man climbs onto the hood of the car, and someone off-camera encourages Peters to start driving. He accelerates and appears to run over the man before asking if he is dead. A woman sitting next to him says, "I don't know," to which he responds, "Hopefully."[18]
Later in the livestream, Peters speaks to a man in a reflective vest and states that he hit the man in self-defense. Peters alleges that the man had been stalking the streamer and had previously thrown red liquid on him; he also alleges that there were multiple people, one of whom looked like they "had a pistol" underneath their clothing, surrounding his car. A call between him and fellow livestreamer Adin Ross, in which Ross advised him to keep livestreaming and refrain from speaking on the situation, also circulated online.[28][17]
Williams, writing for The Atlantic, called the livestream "perhaps [Peters's] most viral moment".[18] Following the incident, he was banned from Kick.[34] According to TMZ, Peters soon posted an AI-generated photo of himself running over a man in a Cybertruck with the caption, "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes."[35] James Fishback, a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2026 Florida gubernatorial election, tweeted that Peters had done "nothing wrong" by hitting the man with his car.[18]
Modeling
Days after his arrest in Arizona in February 2026, Peters walked in a looksmaxxing–themed runway in New York City for designer Elena Velez, whom Bernstein described as "known for her use of controversial internet microcelebrities as models", in collaboration with Remilia Corporation.[4][15] Monica Sabchak of The Spectator described him as "the star of the evening" and as evidence that "the algorithm has stepped onto the runway".[36] His opening of Guillermo Andrade’s 424 Spring/Summer 2027 presentation at the Jardin des Archives Nationales in Paris in June 2026, falsely reported as his "runway debut", was severely criticized by Canadian actor François Arnaud.[37]
Michael Knowles interview
On December 27, 2025, Peters appeared in an interview with conservative political commentator Michael Knowles for The Daily Wire. In it, Peters described Vice President JD Vance as "subhuman" for his "recessed side profile" and for being "obese", asking, "How are you fat and expected to lead a country?" He agreed with Knowles's criticism of California governor Gavin Newsom as both a "degenerate" and a "liar" but said that, in a potential 2028 United States presidential election in which Newsom ran against Vance, he would vote for "Chad" Newsom for "mogging" (being more attractive than) Vance.[21][18]
The segment soon went viral online.[1] Other clips of him from the interview, including one in which he described actress Sydney Sweeney as "malformed" with an "extremely recessed" upper maxilla and "eyes of doom with no infraorbital support", also went viral online.[38]
"Heil Hitler" sing-along
A video of Fuentes, Peters, and right-wing influencers Sneako, Tristan Tate, Andrew Tate, Myron Gaines, and Justin Waller singing along to Kanye West's antisemitic[39] 2025 song "Heil Hitler" at the Miami Beach nightclub Vendôme also circulated online in January 2026.[40] After the clip went viral on social media, Peters defended the group singing along, writing that it was "just a song" and calling it "funny" that the group had "enough status and influence" to get the song played.[41] The incident was condemned by Miami Beach mayor Steven Meiner.[42][43] Several Miami club owners, including David Grutman, announced bans on the group from their venues. Peters met with Grutman and David Einhorn, owner of the Miami club Papi Steak, later that month, stating in a later livestream that he told the businessmen that he was "not trying to do politics anymore".[44]
Incel questions
In an interview conducted with Adam Hegarty for 60 Minutes Australia in April 2026, Hegarty asked Peters if he was an incel due to his associations with "looksmaxxing" (a term initially coined by the incel community) and with Andrew Tate; Peters replied that "looksmaxxing" had nothing to do with incel culture, and abruptly ended the interview.[45]
Questioned by Sean Hannity on his sexual status, for the July 21, 2026 episode of Hang Out with Sean Hannity, Peters said: "People will often try to associate looksmaxxing with incel culture and being super resentful of women, when it's actually the antithesis of that, right? Looksmaxxing is trying to escape inceldom, if anything, so for that link to try to be made makes no sense to me whatsoever."[46]
Bacara Club
Peters no longer holds an ownership position in the Miami Beach nightclub, the Bacara Club, opened in April 2026. Having sold his share in the venue he helped popularize,[47] he said: "I already made my bag, I flipped it.. I do not have any ownership anymore.. it is funny though.. they thought me not being there.. did they actually think the club is gonna work without me but it’s all good, I made my bag."[48] He claims Bacara nightclub owners "tricked" him into investing $400,000, then requested an additional $2,000,000 for a 50% stake. Peters said he intended to sue the venue for a refund of his original investment plus half of profits earned.[49]
France trip
In June 2026, Peters made a trip to Paris, where he modeled at the Fashion Week opening[50] and attended the Fête de la Musique. Clips from his livestream that showed him attempting without success to engage with women subsequently went viral in France, engendering ridicule from netizens and in French media.[51][52][53] Madame Figaro described Peters as being "massively rejected" by Parisian women.[54] Le Monde commented that the "masculinist influencer" who "set out to test his self-proclaimed 'alpha male' magnetism on Parisian women" was "only met with indifference or disdain."[55]
In one video, Peters expressed confusion about his lack of success in Paris[56] and theorized that the French women who appeared uninterested in him were probably "lesbians".[57] He also admitted on X: "I need to become more interesting so I can carry convos better."[58] In later messages, he called the French "impolite shitbags", mocked France's quality of living and stated that European women were less attractive than American ones due to Europe's gene pool being "devastated" in World War II.[59] After Paris, Peters visited the French Riviera. He initially expressed appreciation for Saint-Tropez, but later called the city "retarded". In Cannes, he was denied access to a venue, and heckled in the street by a woman who called him a "Nazi" and told him he was "not welcome" in France.[60][61]
Israel trip
During a July 2026 trip to Israel, Chabad "outreach figure" Yossi Farro presented Peters with a "custom necklace" which shows the Star of David fused with the OpenAI logo. The moment was considered the "latest flashpoint" in a debate over how the Jewish community should engage with controversial online figures. Farro joked online that the "mashup" amounted to the AI company's logo "mogging" the Jewish star. The two switched restaurants mid-meal once Peters realized the one they had chosen was not kosher. Farro posted about the trip and that Peters "is loving Israel and Israel is loving him."[62] "Peters's manager is Jewish," Farro further explained, "and the rabbi of the Chabad community connected to the manager thought it would be worthwhile to introduce us. Thank God, we connected."[63]
The Times of Israel reported that Peters had been seen talking to prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's adviser Topaz Luk at a Tel Aviv nightclub, and mentioned that there had been speculation about Netanyahu making an appearance on Peters' channel.[64] An Olivia Reingold article in The Free Press commented that Peters was "Israelmaxxing" six months after "Jewish leaders nationwide" condemned him for partying to "Heil Hitler".[65] Of the trip, Reingold tweeted: "In an extremely egalitarian turn, Clavicular has revealed himself to be an equal opportunity partier. The man is in Israel to party, y'all. That's it."[66] Mira Fox of The Forward states that for Peters it’s "all a game. He doesn’t care about Israel’s image or the war in Gaza or settlers or Palestinians. His only side is his own, and even then he doesn’t need to be popular; he only needs to be seen."[67]
Israeli influencers who appeared on Peters's streams, Shira Braun[68] and Shira Klein, were reprimanded and demoted from their positions by the Israel Defense Forces,[69] while a betting platform has started setting odds on whether Peters would start wearing a yarmulke in 2026.[70]
Geomaxxing
Apparently growing bored with looksmaxxing in his own country, Peters determined to take his talents to the global stage, announcing in July 2026 that he will now be "geomaxxing". Citing an oversaturation of the dating market, he's resorting to what Austin Perry of Outkick compares to the phenomenon of "bar hopping", before a "-maxxing" word might be applied to such behavior: "when if the bar you were hanging out in wasn't producing any attention from the ladies, logic would suggest you would just hoof it to the next bar." In this way Peters is taking after the so-called "passport bros".[71]
Nightclub "brawl"
Videos going viral on social media show Peters at the center of a fight at a Miami nightclub on July 26, 2026 that apparently started after a man took his hat.[72] Two men holding him down outside the club called it a "citizen's arrest", venue security became involved, and reports are that he was "briefly detained" by police[73] — but no charges have been officially filed at the Miami Police Department related to the fight. Peters thanked his friend for safeguarding his welfare, posting on X: "Drago is my right hand man, absolute legend. W Drago."[74]
Public image
Peters transformed quickly from an "obscure online presence" into one of the internet’s "most inescapable figures" by transforming "chaos into content" and running it through his various "clip accounts". Miami New Times says, "His traditionally handsome face and natural charisma, punctuated by increasingly bizarre moments that feel distinctly internet-era, have turned him into one of livestreaming’s most compulsively watchable figures." NBC's Saturday Night Live mocks him, CBS's 60 Minutes interviews him (as does Sean Hannity[46]). The New York Times profiled him and the Hulu looksmaxxing documentary “IMPACT x Nightline: Looksmaxxed” focuses on him. Lingo Peters popularizes has "seeped into the public consciousness" with slang words like “mogging” and the suffix “maxxing” gaining widespread use.[75]
Will Lavin wrote for Complex in late 2025 that Peters was "often deemed controversial" online.[28] Williams of The Atlantic wrote that Peters's "brand of nihilism" was enticing to young men and in February 2026, Chloe Combi described Peters as having attracted "a huge and growing Gen A boy following".[18][76] For Intelligencer, Ezra Marcus described Peters as "something of an edgelord folk hero" whose "profit strategy fuses shock-jock tactics with straightforward marketing".[23] Charlie Sabgir, director of the Young Men Research Project, wrote in January 2026 for Rolling Stone, "His fixation on optimization is inseparable from aggressive sexism."[25] Looksmaxxing in general, and Clavicular specifically, have been criticized as likely to harm impressionable young men by promoting unrealistic beauty standards and exposing them to incel ideology and misogynistic rhetoric.[77] A March 2026 column in The Guardian compared Clavicular's "self improvement" methods to body dysmorphia.[78]
Peters has described himself as apolitical and stated in 2026 that he "would never want to be associated with politics", which he has described as "jester", a looksmaxxing term for a "foolish waste of time".[44][4] The Forward's Mira Fox included him on the newspaper's list of "right-wing extremists to watch out for in 2026" due to his affiliation with Fuentes and "the subtext of looksmaxxing [being] white supremacy", but described his politics as "confused" and added that he had "yet to openly espouse much political ideology".[11] Lauren Smith wrote for Spiked that he was "seen as a player in the Very Online right" but that he was "best understood not as a right-wing thought leader" due to "only offer[ing] a parody of masculinity", while Joanna Williams wrote for The Telegraph that he had "been embraced by America's Very Online Right" and that he, Fuentes, and Tate "make the overlap between politics and appearance explicit".[79][80] For the Miami New Times, Alex DeLuca wrote that he was "associated with [the] 'manosphere' and far-right extremism".[40]
Peters has played audio of the racial slur nigger.[24] He has also been known to wear a hat bearing the word and Bernstein described his use of it as "chronic".[23][4] Helen Rummel of The Arizona Republic wrote that he was "well-known" for "the use of racist slurs in his livestreams".[81] Peters said on a livestream that "It’s not a racist thing. It’s just a fun word to say."[75] The Atlantic's Charlie Warzel wrote that he "revel[s] in anti-Semitism".[82] Peters stated, “I’m more of, like, a moggist, not a racist.”[75]
In February 2026, a tweet describing Peters as having been "brutally frame mogged" by an Arizona State University fraternity leader in a video became a copypasta and meme.[12] The term jestermaxxing, used to describe having fun, also spread online that month due to its use in video captions of Peters dancing at the club.[83][4] The suffixes -mogging and -maxxing and the incel term foid, a shortening of the portmanteau femoid, which describes women as subhuman, found popular usage online by February 2026 due to these and other memes of Peters.[84] They were typically posted by "clippers", social media users who repost clips from livestreams with eye-catching captions and, according to Katie Notopoulos of Business Insider, often "have a financial motive" to be paid by creator programs or influencers.[85][86] Bernstein also noted that some Kick users were paid by the platform for clipping Peters's livestreams.[4]
Peters responded to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) comments[87] on the "controversial streamer and the growing debate around looksmaxxing" in a July 15, 2026 tweet, saying: "Why do people act like you automatically reject the importance of charisma/personality when becoming a looksmaxer. Its always been about being as well rounded as possible and maxing every stat.”[88]
In July 2026, The New York Times listed Peters as one of the most stylish people of 2026, one of only five New Jerseyans to earn the honor.[89]
Legal issues
In summer 2024, working security at the Chatham Squire, "a famously chaotic Cape Cod bar", Peters got involved in a "massive brawl" with members of an engagement party. After a fight broke out between members of the party and staff, security attempted to eject the partyers from the venue. Surveillance footage showed a man grabbing Peters by the neck; he threw punches in return. Police charged Peters with misdemeanor assault and battery and felony assault and battery on a person over 60. His alleged victims were a 56-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man, who was also arrested for assault and battery on Peters.
In January 2025, both charges against Peters were dismissed at the victims’ request.[75]
Arrest in Arizona
On February 7, 2026, Peters was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona, on suspicion of dangerous drug possession, with court documents describing him as carrying Adderall and Anavar, and possession of a forged instrument at a bar, after attempting to gain entry using a fake ID.[8] According to officers, he was shown on stream asking patrons at the bar for Adderall. He was released from custody the following day and soon tweeted that the charges were "straight up political persecution".[81] The charges were dropped on February 11, 2026, due to a low likelihood of conviction.[90]
Arrest and charges in Florida
In late March 2026, Peters was arrested in Florida on battery charges,[91] relating to an alleged altercation between his girlfriend and another woman.[92][93] On February 2, 2026, a 19-year-old woman reported that she had been attacked by Violet Marie Lentz, 24. Detectives found that Peters had provoked the fight.[94]
Around the same time, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission[92] launched an investigation into him for shooting a previously deceased alligator on a livestream, though it is unclear whether the two events are connected.[93][95] On April 29, 2026, Peters was charged with "unlawfully discharging a firearm", and potentially faced up to one year in jail.[96] On May 15, 2026, he was sentenced to six months of probation and 20 hours of community service, following a plea deal.[97] Media sources such as Fox's OutKick assessed that the sentencing judge, Marcus Bach Armas, had "mogged" Peters during the hearing.[98][99]
Personal life
As of 2026[update], Peters lives in Florida.[23] In summer 2026, he rented a penthouse at Paramount Miami Worldcenter in downtown Miami.[100]
Health
Peters has stated that he is on the autism spectrum, though he has not been professionally diagnosed.[4][22]
In a February 2026 livestream, part of an interview with The New York Times, Peters listed substances that were part of his daily routine, including testosterone, Accutane, retatrutide, and nebivolol.[102] In addition to taking Melanotan 2 to tan faster, melatonin as an antioxidant for his liver and brain, L-Glutathione to protect his liver from drinking alcohol, and NAD+ for cell health, he uses "a fine-tuned nootropic stack" for cognitive enhancement.[103] He began taking testosterone shots at 14.[104] He also told The New York Times that he suspects he is sterile after years of injecting himself with testosterone and alluded to not necessarily enjoying the act of sex.[105]
Peters shared in a June 29, 2026 tweet that he used to stalk strangers so he could study neurotypical human behavior:[106]
One of the strategies I used to become more neurotypical was to pick out a random person on the street and follow them around for the entire day, I would carefully log all of their movements and observations I made. I still try to do this from time to time, but I get recognized a lot which makes it hard.
In December 2024, Peters crashed his "white BMW" driving home from a restaurant security job on Cape Cod in Massachusetts,[75] posting that he’d fallen asleep off baclofen, a muscle relaxer he'd recommended his viewers use to reduce anxiety.[15] On April 14, 2026, while streaming in public with fellow influencer Androgenic, Peters experienced a drug overdose and was hospitalized; he had been using a combination of Adderall, dextromethorphan, pregabalin, ketamine and 1,4-Butanediol, referred to as the "pentastack" by Androgenic.[107] Of the incident, Peters later insisted, “I didn’t overdose or anything. I mean I just, literally, had not eaten that day, consumed too much alcohol, and just knocked out a little bit.”[108] He regards the substances he uses as "just a cope trying to feel neurotypical while being in public, but obviously that isn't a real solution."[109][110] He has vowed to quit substances.[111]