Arts & Entertainment

Local singer Peter Fox succumbs to cancer

Jazz-and-standards performer battled untreatable illness in recent months

Published

15 years ago

January 2, 2012

Joey DiGuglielmo

Gay singer Peter Fox. (Photo courtesy of Signature)

Peter Fox, a likable local gay singer/songwriter, died early Monday morning, according to a statement released by his family. He was 45 and died of central nervous system lymphoma according to his friend, fellow musician Tom Nichols.

Fox, a Pompton Plains, N.J., native, studied business and music at Pennsylvania State University and had devoted the last seven years mostly to singing. He performed at corporate and LGBT events, sang at the 2010 AIDS Walk and performed a cabaret show last summer at Signature Theatre. He had previously been active in the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and sang in its Potomac Fever ensemble. His eponymous debut album came out in May, 2010. By day he was membership director for an HIV medical certification association. He had previously been a truck driver.

Fox had a good relationship with his family and said his coming-out process had been easy. His brother was at his cabaret show last summer and Fox told a funny story about taking his (straight) father to a Pittsburgh gay bar.

“The Fox family is deeply saddened to share with you the passing of our beloved brother Peter in the early morning hours of Monday,” the statement said. “He left this earth peacefully in the loving arms of his family. We thank our family and friends for their love and support during this difficult time. Service and memorial details will follow soon. Prayerfully, the Fox family.”

MORE IN THE BLADE: ‘A RARE AND BEAUTIFUL SOUL’

Fox became ill suddenly in November. A round of chemotherapy did not go well and doctors advised no further chemo treatment, Nichols said. Fox had just performed with Nichols at the release party for Nichols’ debut album. The two had sung together for more than a decade in the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington.

Fox was single but previously had a relationship with Antonio Casavez who lives in Australia but returned to the U.S. to be with Fox in his final weeks. Casavez declined to comment but Nichols said the two had “a special relationship” and even when they were in relationships with others, “were soul mates and had a special place in each other’s hearts.”

Fox and Nichols were roommates for about three years before Fox bought his own place. Nichols remembers him as a motorcycle enthusiast and a great roommate.

“He was a true artist,” Nichols said of his friend. “He had a one-in-a-million voice … and a unique ability to make every single person he encountered feel like they were the only person in the room.”

Fox was preceded in death by his parents but is survived by three brothers and a sister. A public viewing is planned for Thursday at DeVol Funeral Home (2222 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.) from 6 to 9 p.m. The service is set for Friday at 10 a.m. at Foundry United Methodist Church (1500 16th Street, N.W.). Anyone may attend.

In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that memorial gifts in Fox’s honor be made to the Icla Da Silva Foundation, the largest bone marrow recruiter for the National Marrow Registry.

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Online Culture

Clavicular charged in alleged rape of teenage influencer

Online personality’s real name is Braden Peters

Published

12 minutes ago

September 23, 2026

Joe Reberkenny

Braden Peters a.k.a. "Clavicular" (Screen capture via NBC News/YouTube)

Online personality Clavicular, whose real name is Braden Peters, has been accused of rape.

According to NBC, Aleksandra Vasilevna Mendoza, an 18-year-old influencer known online as Alorah or Alorah Ziva, accused Peters of sexual assault, and the case is making its way through the court system.

The alleged incident occurred on May 23, 2025, when Mendoza was 17.

According to a criminal complaint from the Chatham (Mass.) Police Department, Peters called her an Uber to his family’s home. Once there, he allegedly got her drunk on vodka while they livestreamed on Twitch and then raped her. His mother and grandmother were allegedly in the house.

The documents allege Clavicular committed rape, drugging a person for sexual intercourse, and procuring and providing liquor to a person under 21.

According to court documents acquired by NPR, Mendoza began communicating with Peters on Instagram, where he paid her to appear on his livestreams to help her “make her name known on social media.”

According to those documents, Peters arranged for the minor to come to Cape Cod home to participate in a videostream for his 437,000 followers on Kick, 1.2 million followers on TikTok, and more than 1 million followers on Instagram.

At his home, Peters allegedly instructed Mendoza to say she was 18 on his videostream and to claim the alcohol on camera was water instead of vodka. Mendoza said she felt peer-pressured to drink the spirit and that she became noticeably intoxicated after a couple of drinks.

The allegations go on to state that after stopping the stream, Peters and Mendoza kissed on a couch and then had sex in his bed without her consent. Mendoza said she did not receive a sexual assault forensic exam after the incident. NPR does not name alleged victims of sexual assault.

The charges come months after Mendoza sued Peters in Miami, accusing him of sexual battery in connection with the events of May 2025. The civil lawsuit also separately alleges that he injected her face with a non-FDA-approved fat-dissolving substance during a November livestream in Florida.

Peters is known for his “looksmaxxing” concept of vanity, which is at the core of his online presence. The “looksmaxxing” culture he has helped cultivate combines elements of incel culture and heterosexuality, with the stated goal of attracting the opposite sex. He has gone as far as to say he has undergone “bonesmashing,” or hitting his own face with a hammer; taken anabolic steroids to more rapidly grow muscle; and used crystal meth as an appetite suppressant.

At the same time, looksmaxxing has been described as having elements of homoeroticism, with “looksmaxxers” appearing more concerned with impressing other men than women. Peters has multiple times pointed to openly gay actor Matt Bomer as the gold standard for male facial aesthetics.

Peters’s arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 14.