Arts & Entertainment
‘Love, Simon’ wins Best Kiss at MTV Movie & TV Awards
Lena Waithe, Lady Gaga also made appearances

Nick Robinson and Keiynan Lonsdale in ‘Love, Simon’ (Screenshot via YouTube)
The 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards was filled with LGBT representation including a Best Kiss win for “Love, Simon” and a Trailblazer Award honor given to Lena Waithe at the ceremony which aired on Monday night.
The cast of “13 Reasons Why” announced the winner for Best Kiss was Nick Robinson and Keiynan Lonsdale’s kiss at the end of the gay teen romance. This is the second year in a row that a same-sex kiss won the award. In 2017, Ashton Sanders and Jharrel Jermone’s kiss in “Moonlight” received the honor.
Lonsdale, 26, accepted the award as Robinson was unable to make the show.
“I just want to say to every kid, you can live your dreams and wear dresses,” Lonsdale told the crowd. “You can live your dreams and kiss the one that you love, no matter what gender they are. You can live your dreams and you can believe in magic. You can live your dreams and you can be yourself.”
Lonsdale came out as bisexual while filming the movie in 2017.
Lena Waithe was honored with the Trailblazer Award for her achievements in television. In 2017, Waithe became the first woman of color to win the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for writing the “Master of None” episode “Thanksgiving.” The episode tackled her character Denise’s coming out to her family over a series of Thanksgivings. She is also the creator and executive producer of the Showtime drama “The Chi,” which follows the lives of people in the South Side of Chicago.
In her acceptance speech, the 34-year-old credited Jennie Livingston’s 1990 documentary “Paris Is Burning,” which chronicled the ’80s ball culture in New York City, for paving the way in culture.
“Every time someone says shade or talks about reading or just decides to serve face for no reason at all, please look up to the sky and give thanks because we owe them a huge debt of gratitude,” Waithe says. “They strutted through a brick wall so we wouldn’t have to.”
Other highlights of the night included Chris Pratt receiving the Generation Award and Tiffany Haddish hosting the ceremony with gags like wearing Meghan Markle’s wedding dress and sporting a pregnant belly as a nod to Cardi B’s “Saturday Night Live” performance.
Lady Gaga also made an appearance to accept the award for Best Music Documentary for her documentary “Five Foot Two” and to present the award for Best Movie.
“I love you little monsters so much! And, Happy Pride Month,” Lady Gaga says. “I just have one problem, I recently found out that I am actually five-foot-three and three quarters … I am so, so sorry, but thank you so much.”
She announced the Best Movie winner with flair yelling “Black mother f—– Panther.'”
See the full list of winners below.
BEST MOVIE – “Black Panther”
BEST SHOW – “Stranger Things”
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A MOVIE – Chadwick Boseman in “Black Panther”
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SHOW – Millie Bobby Brown in “Stranger Things”
BEST HERO – Chadwick Boseman (T’Challa/Black Panther) in “Black Panther”
BEST VILLAIN – Michael B. Jordan (N’Jadaka/Erik Killmonger) in “Black Panther”
BEST KISS – Love, Simon – Nick Robinson (Simon) and Keiynan Lonsdale (Bram)
MOST FRIGHTENED PERFORMANCE – Noah Schnapp (Will Byers) – “Stranger Things”
BEST ON-SCREEN TEAM – “It” – Finn Wolfhard (Richie), Sophia Lillis (Beverly), Jaeden Lieberher (Bill), Jack Dylan Grazer (Eddie), Wyatt Oleff (Stanley), Jeremy Ray Taylor (Ben), Chosen Jacobs (Mike)
BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE – Tiffany Haddish – “Girls Trip”
SCENE STEALER – Madelaine Petsch (Cheryl Blossom) – “Riverdale”
BEST FIGHT – “Wonder Woman” – Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) vs. German Soldiers
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY – “Gaga: Five Foot Two”
BEST REALITY SERIES/FRANCHISE – “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”
BEST MUSICAL MOMENT – “Stranger Things” (Mike and Eleven dance to “Every Breath You Take”)
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)



















