sublebrity

plural sublebrities · alternative sub-lebrity

1. derogatoryinformalSynonym of minor celebrity (“a celebrity of little importance or significance; someone famous for being famous”).

   Of course, the ultimate celebrity of all time is still Marilyn Monroe. In the nearly fifty years since her death, hundreds of books have been written about her and her classic beauty still looks modern. I wonder how many of today's sub-lebrities will ever achieve that degree of long-term adulation?

   2011, Joan Collins, “On Fame: I’m Going to Live for Ever, or at Least Fifteen Minutes”, in The World according to Joan, London: Constable & Robinson, →ISBN, page 25

   3 more examples

   After the screening, a large crowd filled the street outside the theater, playing spot-the-sublebrity with some of the film's prime characters, including Nirvana photographer Alice Wheeler and [Courtney] Love's estranged (and notoriously unhinged) father, Hank Harrison, who appears in the movie hawking his self-published anti-Courtney screed, Who Killed Kurt Cobain?

   1998 May, James Sullivan, “Maggot Brains: The Bizarre Premiere of Kurt and Courtney”, in Michael Hirschorn, editor, Spin, volume 14, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Vibe/Spin Ventures, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 78, column 2

   It's been fourteen years of some serious chasing after stardom and just as seriously running away from it, but I haven't become a star. I might be on my way, though. As I write this book, I have secured myself a place as a sublebrity in the pantheon of America's queer and postmodern subcultures. That makes me happy.

   2012, Kate Bornstein, “Prologue: The Kiss of Death”, in A Queer and Pleasant Danger: A Memoir, Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, →ISBN

   But I could definitely consider a Shower List – a list of the biggest shower of horrors in any field at any given moment. First up, then: Britain's Ghastliest Financial Sublebrities. The idea is tangentially suggested – but of course – by the FT [Financial Times]'s exposé of the Presidents Club, a men-only charity party at which City chaps apparently seem to trade donations to the sick children of Great Ormond Street Hospital for the chance to sexually harass the female help.

   2018 January 15, Marina Hyde, “Britain’s ghastliest financial sublebrities – a who’s who”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 09 Sep 2024

   Synonyms: C-lister, demicelebrity, minicelebrity, minor celebrity