NATIONAL NEWS

‘Looksmaxxing’ streamer known as Clavicular set to be arraigned on rape charge

Oct 21, 2026, 4:26 PM | Updated: Oct 22, 2026, 8:16 am

ORLEANS, Mass. (AP) — The “looksmaxxing” livestreamer Braden Peters, better known by his stage name Clavicular, is set to be arraigned Thursday in Massachusetts on charges that he raped a 17-year-old girl at his family’s Cape Cod home.

A social media personality known for promoting extreme devotion to male beauty, Peters, 20, is accused of giving the girl alcohol until she was drunk and then sexually assaulting her when she visited him in Chatham, Massachusetts, in May 2025.

Peters has denied the allegations through his lawyers, saying the sexual encounter was consensual. He is scheduled to be arraigned at a court in Orleans.

The case is the latest legal challenge for Peters, who has a million followers on Instagram, and whose hourslong livestreams feature him rating people’s looks and talking about methods of getting better looking that include surgery and drug use.

Earlier this year, he was charged with misdemeanor battery in Florida after police said he provoked a fight between two women then posted it online. That charge was later dropped. In a separate Florida case this year, he was sentenced to probation after pleading no contest to a charge that he fired a gun in public.

The woman who accused Peters of rape told police he had been paying her to appear in his “looksmaxxing” videos. She said that during her visit to a Peters family home, he gave her two or three shots of vodka, then livestreamed himself kissing her while she was drunk. She told police that when she woke up the next morning, Peters was raping her.

The woman also described the alleged assault in a civil lawsuit she filed in Florida in April. In that lawsuit, she also accused Peters of injecting her with a fat-dissolving substance during a livestream without her consent.

Peters’ attorneys called the lawsuit a “publicity grab.”

The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they were victims of sexual assault unless they consent to being identified publicly.

National News

A man holds his dog while getting vaccinated against the flu during a vaccination campaign that pro...

Associated Press

The US and Mexico are on the verge of forfeiting a major health victory. Here’s what to know

NEW YORK (AP) — International health experts are meeting this week to determine if the United States and Mexico have forfeited one of their greatest public health victories — the elimination of measles. Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to medicine, but vaccines had safely stopped the virus’ spread in the U.S. […]

1 hour ago

FILE- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks to the media as he attends a meeting between Chinese Premier L...

Associated Press

Fallout from the Nvidia scandal may dampen the exuberance around the AI boom

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s stunning resignation has sent ripples through the global technology industry, with rival chipmakers itching to take advantage of the uncertainty and others wondering if the downfall of one of AI’s biggest cheerleaders will dampen the mood around the civilization-altering technology. Huang, who stepped down Thursday following reports of extramarital affairs, including […]

3 hours ago

FILE - Anti-data center demonstrators protest at the Pennsylvania state Capitol, Oct. 6, 2026, in H...

Associated Press

Democratic political group launches new push to shape AI agenda ahead of 2028

DENVER (AP) — A Democratic political organization is announcing a new effort to shape how to talk with voters about artificial intelligence, deepening its investment on an issue that an increasing number of party leaders believe creates a stark contrast with President Donald Trump’s opposition to regulating the powerful technology. Tomorrow Together was one of […]

3 hours ago

A banner with a portrait of President Donald Trump is seen hung outside the Department of Justice, ...

Associated Press

Trump’s Justice Department faces a new era of scrutiny under a Democratic-led Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has functioned for nearly two years as an extension of the White House, unchecked by a Republican-controlled Congress as it pursued investigations into President Donald Trump’s enemies, fired waves of career employees and defended administration stances that judges across the country repeatedly deemed legally dubious. Now, sweeping Democratic gains […]

3 hours ago

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., speaks during a panel at Crooked Con at the Walter E Washington Conve...

Associated Press

Van Hollen to challenge Schumer for Senate Democratic leader, saying voters ‘called for change’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said Thursday that he will run for Senate Majority Leader in the next Congress, setting up a challenge to Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer after the party swept to power in the midterm elections. Van Hollen said in a statement that “the American people called for […]

6 hours ago

Mississippi Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom gestures at an election event in Jackson, Miss....

Associated Press

Trump praises Democrat Scott Colom for showing up to Mississippi rally and courting MAGA supporters

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday heaped praise on Mississippi’s Sen.-elect Scott Colom for courting some of his hardcore MAGA supporters in the final days of the midterm election campaign, a rare example of the Republican president showing admiration for a Democrat. When the president traveled to Corinth, Mississippi, last month to campaign […]

6 hours ago

‘Looksmaxxing’ streamer known as Clavicular set to be arraigned on rape charge