Dark Side of Social Media: Cancel Culture in Sports Organizations

On April 17, 2023, the football giants Real Madrid and FC Barcelona engaged in an unexpected mutual institutional cancelation on social media by accusing each other of having maintained and benefited from historical ties with Franco’s oppressive regime. To understand how the respective fan bases reacted to the exchange of allegations linking their clubs with Franco’s regime, the motivations behind clubs’ engagement in cancel culture and the subsequent stances during the conflict, and what were the practical consequences from economic and brand/image perspectives to these clubs, we employed a digital socio-psychological analysis of three videos on YouTube, including over 4,000 comments. Four main themes were developed: supporting Official Counter- canceling while Reinterpreting history; Fans’ Mockery as a Counter Canceling Culture Reinforcement; Fear, Repression, and Persecution: Explaining FCB’s compliance with Franco’s regime; “White-washing” the history: RM’s Propaganda and Manipulation. Findings suggest that football supporters tend to reject their clubs’ historical associations with dark periods and figures, thereby mitigating potential cancel culture effects such as sponsorship losses, brand damage, and decline of fan support. This study encourages future research into sports cancel culture to consider the interplay of distinct cultures, sociopolitical contexts, supporters’ collective identities, and team identifications inherent in the sports world.