'Looksmaxxing' influencer Clavicular rejects incel label, faults 'both' men and women
Viral influencer Clavicular revealed his thoughts on "incel culture" — an online subculture of mostly young, heterosexual men who identify as "involuntary celibates," and are often stigmatized as misogynistic — as well as modern dating culture amid his controversial streaming antics.
The 20-year-old internet personality, whose real name is Braden Peters, sat down with Fox News host Sean Hannity for the July 21 episode of "Hang Out with Sean Hannity." When asked about his content strategy and his views on women, Clavicular defended his "looksmaxxing" movement and accusations that it promotes "incel culture."
"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?" he said. "Looksmaxxing is trying to escape inceldom, if anything, so for that link to try to be made makes no sense to me whatsoever."
"Looksmaxxing" is a strict health regimen that is meant to perfect one's appearance, and includes practices such as taking stimulants and bone smashing, which Clavicular describes as striking your facial bones with a hammer in an effort to stimulate bone growth.
The streamer also mused about how incel culture may be affecting the dating scene and connections between men and women.
"Every time I talk about hypergamy and why the dating market is hard, I'll talk about how maybe women on dating apps will go for the top profiles and this and that," he said. "But then I'll also say right after, you know, can you really blame them with the generation of men that's out there for them? So I think it's a problem on both sides. It's not just women, it's not just men — it is holistic."
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Clavicular was previously pressed about whether he identifies as an incel during a tense sit-down interview with "60 Minutes Australia" correspondent Adam Hegarty in April. He lashed out at the reporter and criticized the question.
"I mean, how could you ask me that question as a follow-up after you asked me about my relationships to women?" he replied. "I mean, that’s quite literally the worst sequence of questions I think I’ve ever heard."
Hegarty repeatedly pressed Clavicular about his alleged ties to the incel community and his connection to fellow internet personality Andrew Tate, but he denied any links to the group.
"I’m not linked to that group in any way," he countered. "Looksmaxxing is self-improvement, right? So it’s about potentially even ascending out of that category. So that would be kind of one of the goals — to dissociate from being an incel and overcome that. So that doesn’t make sense."
Clavicular ended the interview abruptly, storming off the set.
Conversely, Hannity left Clavicular with some encouraging words after their wide-ranging conversation, wishing him "all the success in the world" and advising him to be "careful."
The controversial viral star was arrested in March on a battery charge after police alleged he instigated a fight between two women and posted the video to social media. The incident sparked additional concerns about his treatment of women, especially on his livestreams.
Fox News' Nora Moriarty contributed to this story.