Of Course Hulu’s New Looksmaxxing Doc Opens in Miami

Ru Paul better watch out because straight men have discovered drag and are taking their pursuit of beauty to new extremes. With a new Disney+ documentary featuring notorious influencer Clavicular (real name Braden Peters), so-called looksmaxxing (basically extreme drag for straights) has officially entered the mainstream.

Looksmaxxing is relatively new term for a trend as old as time: people going to just about any length to make themselves more attractive. Popularized by influencers like Clavicular (who lives and records his streams in South Florida), it runs the gamut from “softmaxxing” through grooming/diet to “hardmaxxing,” which may include surgeries and smashing your face with a hammer (yes, really). ABC News’ Impact x Nightline series Thursday released the first episode of a documentary called “IMPACT x Nightline: LOOKSMAXXED” on Disney+/Hulu, and we watched it so you don’t have to.

The documentary narrator notes looksmaxxing came from online incel culture, which consists of men who perceive themselves as physically inferior to so-called “alpha men.” Those who buy in to the looksmaxxing maxims engage in behaviors they believe will help them “ascend,” i.e. look better. And where better for a documentary about neo-narcissism to begin than Miami?

Throughout the first episode, which dropped Thursday night, clips from Clavicular’s streams are shown, including scenes where he’s hitting his jaw with a hammer and one of his overdoses (which have been caught on camera during his streams). While it’s unclear whether Clavicular will make an in-person appearance during the rest of the season, he undoubtedly has the dubious honor of being the star of this veritable public service announcement on the dangers of looksmaxxing. While it was easy to obtain clips of Clavicular from his own near-constant stream, getting live recordings of him was seemingly a bit more difficult. According to a Page Six story, Clavicular sent a cease-and-desist letter to Hulu, and Disney’s general counsel, after they tried to record him at a New York Fashion Week event.

Narrators in the documentary note looksmaxxing fans are taking advice from mostly young, uneducated men. Clavicular, for instance, regularly talks about taking heroine for looksmaxxing, has overdoes multiple times while streaming, and is under investigation by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) after posting a video of himself shooting a protected alligator in the Everglades.

The documentarians (who didn’t respond to a request for comment) do, however, interview several other looksmaxxering influencers, including another Miami resident in Dillon Latham.

“I don’t actually understand how people can’t see the reality that is: the better you look, the better you’re treated and the more power you have,” Latham says on camera. “It was just obvious to me.”

Latham says he “does whatever he can to look better” right when he starts his day at 2 p.m., whether that means makeup, oils, and vaseline, you name it.

“People always say, ‘don’t care what other people think.’ But I think the only way to operate is discovering what people think then capitalizing off that,” the bushy-eyebrowed Lothorio said while lounging shirtless on a bed.

Looksmaxxers like Latham and Clavicular typically don’t stop at improving their own image — most seemingly dabble in the art of spreading their message, like a cross between Gene Simmons and Jesus.

The documentary does spend quite a bit of the first episode diving into Clavicular, who explains in a podcast clip that he’s trying to “maxx” every aspect of his life, including “moneymaxxing” and “IQmaxxing.” Don’t worry, Clavicular and the documentary narrators go into detail about the terms “normies” may not know.

Need-to-know terms within the genre include hard- and softmaxxing, mogging (the verb used to say someone is better looking than another), and mewing (a term well-known to drag queens for a sort-of puckering pose that forces face muscles to sharpen the jaw).