Towards decelebritisation? Exploring the backstage of the mediated sporting spectacle in the culture of authenticity on a Czech storytelling portal, Bez frází

This paper introduces and systematically explores the notion of decelebritisation. Decelebritisation is understood in relation to celebritisation and refers to the processes during which the commonly invisible and hidden media construction of celebrities is unveiled, disenchanted, and often problematised. Drawing on a qualitative content analysis of 60 articles published by the Czech online storytelling platform Bez frází between 2016 and 2022, we demonstrate that decelebritisation is potentially articulated through six dimensions: (1) the explicit rejection of celebrity status; (2) recognition of an athlete’s vulnerability as concerns health and financial problems; (3) open discussion with aspects of underestimation, denigration, and hatred; (4) recognition of failure and restoration of the disappearing fair-play myth; (5) reflexive insight as to dominant gender values and a move towards identity politics; and (6) disclosure and critique of the broader political economy of celebrity fabrication involving sport governing bodies, sponsors, and the media production process. Finally, we discuss how decelebritisation is narrowly intertwined with celebritisation and we provide some implications of the decelebritisation concept for further scholarship.