Arts & Entertainment
LGBT out front at Fringe
Gay musicals, operas, cabaret and more prominent in theater festival

Tia Nina has a Fringe show slated for Sunday. (Photo courtesy Fringe Festival)
The Capital Fringe Festival will continue this week and through July 28. The festival features live performances and shows by local actors whose work is promoted by Capital Fringe, a local performing arts non-profit organization.
The festival features a number of performances that address gay themes. “La Voce to Me,” a gay recreation of “The Little Mermaid” by Jeremy Pace, will be performed on Sunday at 5:15 at the Goethe Institut (812 7th St., N.W.).
Also on Sunday is “Pitchin’ the Tent: Tia Nina Live at Baldacchino,” showcasing the gender-bending feminist rock band Tia Nina. All of the group’s songs are original, complemented with gritty dancing. The performance is at 3 p.m. at Fort Fringe (607 New York Ave., N.W.).
“Songs From an Unmade Bed” is a musical theater and opera performance directed by Josh Redford that reveals a gay man’s experiences living in New York. The show is at 2:45 p.m. at Fort Fringe on Sunday (607 New York Ave., N.W.).
“The Burlesque of Broadway,” by Lola Rose, is a burlesque show with sexy dance numbers to Broadway classics on Friday at 10 p.m. at Fort Fringe (607 New York Ave., N.W.). The show features homoerotic themes and gender-ambiguous costumes.
General admission to each performance is $17. For more details and to purchase tickets, visit capitalfringe.org.
Online Culture
Clavicular charged in alleged rape of teenage influencer
Online personality’s real name is Braden Peters
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.
Photos
PHOTOS: Shenandoah Valley Pride
LGBTQ celebration held at Turner Pavilion in Harrisonburg, Va.
The 2026 Shenandoah Valley Pride Festival was held at Turner Pavilion in Harrisonburg, Va. on Sunday, Sept. 20.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
















Whitman-Walker Health held the 40th annual Walk and 5K to End HIV at Anacostia Park on Saturday, Sept. 19.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)



















