This article discusses a new version of body culture: Physical activities disguising themselves in an attempt to be counted as legitimate sports. Slap fighting stands at the core of this discussion and serves as a case study for a trend which the authors warn is cause for concern. The article shows how slap fighting undermines the entire value system upon which modern sport is founded. Although it has theoretically adopted the sporting standards implicit in the concept of fair play, slap fighting is empty of the essential components that define sport, the values common to humanity as a whole, replacing them with humiliation and gloating as the ultimate goal and climax of the event. From the outset, slap fighting was designed for social media, especially TikTok, a platform that aims to provide viewers with a quick thrill. We call slap fighting (and similar practices) “bottom-line sport” because it contains no genuine athletic competition apart from the humiliating outcome, which is also the entirety of the event.
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