Arts & Entertainment
Demi Lovato helps Shane Bitney Crone and Rayvon Owen get engaged
the couple made their relationship public in 2016
Demi Lovato, Rayvon Owen and Shane Bitney Crone (Screenshot courtesy of Instagram)
Demi Lovato helped her friends Shane Bitney Crone and Rayvon Owen get engaged on stage during the Los Angeles stop of her “Tell Me You Love Me” tour on Friday.
Lovato invites Owen, 26, and Crone, 32, on stage with her but Owen finds himself standing alone next to Lovato. While Owen tries to find where his boyfriend went Crone pops on stage through a trap door.
Owen appears shocked as Crone proposes and Owen says yes.
“Something you don’t know is that these are two of my really close friends. I’ve gotten to watch Shane go through so much and come out on the other side. Such a strong person who has now found the love of his life,” Lovato tells the crowd. “Now I’m going to sing you a song while I cry.”
She then proceeds to sing her song “Yes” as a video montage of the couple’s love story plays behind her.
Crone, who is an LGBT activist, chronicled the legal challenges he faced after his partner Tom Bridegroom’s sudden death in the documentary “Bridegroom.” Owen, who was a finalist on season 14 of “American Idol” came out as gay in his music video “Can’t Fight It,” which starred Crone as his love interest, in 2016.
“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you, and I am beyond thrilled to officially call you my fiancé! You’ve made me a better man and I’ll forever be grateful to you for loving me unconditionally. I know with all of my heart that Tom would be so happy for us, and I thank you for honoring and respecting the fact that he will always be a part of my life,” Crone captioned photos and video of the special moment.
Owen posted his own memory of the night with photos and video of the proposal and Lovato’s performance.
“I said yes…hands down the happiest night of my entire life. @shanebitneycrone, i am beyond excited and honored to spend the rest of my life with you. thank you @ddlovato for making this a moment that i will absolutely never ever forget,” Owen writes.
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
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