Arts & Entertainment

Hockey announcer calls gay couple’s kiss-cam ‘disgusting’ on air

the P.A. apologized for comments made during the game

Published

10 years ago

March 8, 2017

Mariah Cooper

(Screenshot courtesy of YouTube)

A U.K. hockey announcer is apologizing after humiliating a gay couple who participated during the game’s kiss-cam, The Star reports.

The moment occurred during a hockey match between the Sheffield Steelers and Cardiff Devils. Hockey announcer David Simms was giving commentary during the game’s kiss-cam which was trying to find a couple to win tickets for the Challenge Cup.

When the cam landed on the gay couple Simms said, “That’s disgusting. Security, get rid of them.”

Simms took to social media to say the comment was a joke and he meant no offense. Not everyone was willing to accept the apology.

@Simmsey “I genuinely meant no offense” is not an apology. How about “I realise what I said was unacceptable and apologise unreservedly”.

— Mags (@ViciousValkyrie) March 6, 2017

Surely it’s now time for @officialEIHL to kick the racist homophobe David Simms out. Please do the decent thing. No place for either today!

— Craig Forman (@FormanCraig) March 4, 2017

Simms later went on to make an apology statement to The Star.

“I am not homophobic, you have known me long enough. I haven’t got a bad bone in my body,” Simms told The Star. “If the comments made upset or offended anybody then of course I apologize completely.”

“Maybe I live in a different world, I can’t really see the offense I have caused. But if people have been offended…people who know me know I don’t like to offend. And I am truly sorry if I did do,” Simms continued.

The Sheffield Steelers also made a statement defending Simms and insisting that the joke was not meant to offend the LGBT community.

“The club would like to put on record our sincere apology to any fans or members of the LGBT community who were offended by comments made by David Simms during the game on Saturday 4th March,” the statement reads. “In no way did Mr. Simms intend what was said in a derogatory or offensive way. David Simms has personally apologized to fans on social media, the club, the EIHL and has been in touch with LGBT direct.”

Related Topics:David Simms Sheffield Steelers The Star

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Online Culture

Clavicular charged in alleged rape of teenage influencer

Online personality’s real name is Braden Peters

Published

2 hours 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.