Controversial social media influencer Clavicular is facing charges in connection with a viral video showing him shooting at an alligator, which was already apparently dead, in the Florida Everglades.
The 20-year-old social media star, who maintains an online presence in manosphere circles as a so-called “looksmaxxer,” was charged April 29 for unlawfully discharging a firearm in public, weeks after he was filmed firing a dozen bullets at an alligator while livestreaming from an airboat.
The influencer, real name Braden Eric Peters, has not been charged with harming the alligator, which may have already been dead. He has not been arrested and is scheduled to appear May 20 in Miami-Dade County Court.
Also charged in the incident — which allegedly occurred around March 26 on a boat ramp dock — are Andrew Morales, known on social media as “Cuban Tarzan” and Yabdiel Anibal Cotto Torres.
Peters, who has recently been the subject of numerous media interviews and TV appearances, is the leader of the online “looksmaxxing” community, which is the theory that maximizing one’s physical appearance — often through aggressive methods and surgical intervention — is the key to overarching superiority and success with women.
He found viral fame through TikTok and Instagram 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.
Lawyers for the influencer, Steven Kramer and Jeffrey Neiman, said in a statement shared Wednesday that their client was “following the instructions of a licensed airboat guide.”
“He relied on that guidance,” the statement said via The New York Times. “No animals or people were harmed. We are confident that once the full picture is understood, people will see this for what it is.” The Independent has reached Peters’ representatives for comment.
Florida wildlife officers investigated the incident after the video began circulating on the livestreaming platform Kick, where he has more than 300,000 followers and typically streams for several hours per day.
On the day of the Miami alligator shooting, Peters was briefly jailed in Fort Lauderdale on an assault charge linked to a separate incident that allegedly took place at a rented property.
In the following weeks, Peters was rushed to the hospital in Miami over a suspected overdose while livestreaming to his followers.
The influencer said the next day that he had been released from the hospital, writing on X: “Just got home, that was brutal.”
“All of the substances are just a cope trying to feel neurotypical while being in public, but obviously that isn’t a real solution. The worst part of tonight was my face descending from the life support mask,” he told fans after.
Earlier in April, the influencer walked out of an interview with 60 Minutes Australia after he was questioned about his connection to manosphere influencer Andrew Tate.
The program’s host Adam Hegarty asked why he spends time with controversial figures like Tate, and Peters replied: “I see you want to make this political… You want to end [this interview] and talk about politics.”
It came after a video showed him chanting along to the Kanye West track “Heil Hitler” with far-right commentator Nick Fuentes and Tate. Peters has claimed he had “nothing to do with it.”
