Arts & Entertainment

D.C. arts briefs: July 27

Best of Gay D.C. voting up now, ‘Lay of the Land’ and ‘Thomas is Titanic’ at the Fringe

Published

14 years ago

July 26, 2012

Erin Durkin

Ba’Naka with her trophies at last year’s Best of Gay D.C. awards. (Blade photo by Pete Exis)

Nominate your faves for Best of Gay D.C.

The opportunity to nominate local businesses, restaurants or people in the Blade’s 11^th annual Best of Gay D.C. awards ends Wednesday.

The Blade has added a new step this year to the Best of Gay D.C. Awards by allowing readers to nominate their favorites before official voting starts Aug. 10. Readers can nominate businesses, venues and people in categories such as best new restaurant, best wine bar, best dance club, hottest stripper, best place of worship, best yoga studio, best realtor, best drag queen, best amateur athlete and many more.

The purpose of the awards is to bring reader’s attentions to establishments that they may not have known about prior to the contest.

To nominate a business or a person, or to see where to vote starting Aug. 10, go to bestofgaydc.com.

Running in Rehoboth

CAMP Rehoboth and Seashore Striders are planning the third annual “Sundance 5K: Run, Walk or Sashay!” event for Aug. 26 at 7:30 a.m. The race starts in front of the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center on Baltimore Avenue.

The 5K serves as the kick-off to “Sundance Week,” an annual benefit for Rehoboth’s gay community center. There’s also a one-mile “Fun Walk” and participants are encouraged to come in costume.

Prizes will be awarded to top finishers. Pre-registration runs through Aug. 14 and costs $25 (T-shirt guaranteed); register online by Aug. 24 for $30 or in person on race weekend also for $30 (T-shirts while supplies last). Visit seashorestriders.com to register. The Blade is an official media sponsor.

One man depicts the epic sinking of Titanic

Thomas Choinacky performs “Thomas is Titanic” with the Capital Fringe Festival tonight at 10:30 p.m. and on Sunday at 2:45 p.m. at Mount Vernon United Methodist Church (7^th St. Mt. Vernon Square).

Choinacky is a gay performer whose obsession with Kate Winslet led him to play all the parts of the movie, including the iceberg.

General admission is $17. For more information, visit capitalfringe.org.

Laughs and controversy in the Capitol

Award-winning and controversial actor Tim Miller performs his piece “Lay of the Land” as part of the Association for Theater in Higher Education Conference on Aug. 3 at 10 p.m. The conference will take at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill (400 New Jersey Ave., NW).

Miller’s pieces have always explored his identity as a gay man and the civil rights of those in the LGBT community. Several of his pieces have caused controversies. Miller was one of the NEA 4, which were four artists who had their National Endowment of the Arts vetoed based on the content of their work.

“Lay of the Land” is no different, as it takes place during a “No on Prop. 8” protest in downtown L.A. In an interview with gay author William Mann, Miller said, “’Lay of the Land’ is a ‘lay’ in all kinds of ways: a sex-assignation, a queer citizenship map, and of course a narrative ballad with a recurrent refrain.”

Attendees don’t have to be registered for the conference in order to attend the performance. Individual registration costs range from $215-$435, but tickets for Miller’s performance are available for $10 at the door of the Hyatt ballroom just prior to the performance. For more information, visit athe.org or timmillerperformer.com.

Related Topics:Best of Gay D.C.Fringe Festival Lay of the Land Out & About Thomas Choinacky Thomas is Titanic Tim Miller

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Online Culture

Clavicular charged in alleged rape of teenage influencer

Online personality’s real name is Braden Peters

Published

16 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.