Source: Brandon Sloter / Getty
For the past few years many celebrities and people you may even know have decided to switch up their daily diets and go on a vegan only way of life. While that bares little to no consequences on their professional lives, hot dog eating legend Joey Chestnut’s decision to eat vegan led to his termination from his “job” of competitively eating hot dogs.
According to the New York Post, the reigning hot dog eating champion was told he will not be allowed to compete at this years Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island after he signed a deal with plant-based food brand, Impossible Foods. With Impossible Foods sponsoring the man who once gobbled 76 glizzies in a single 10-minute sitting, the higher-ups over at Nathan’s lowkey felt betrayed by Chestnut’s latest venture. Though they haven’t blatantly “banned” him from the contest, they basically banned him from competing at this year’s event.
The New York Post reports:
A rep for Major League Eating (MLE), which Nathan’s sanctions to run the event, said the organizers bent over backwards to meet Chestnut’s various other demands.
They even agreed to let him participate in a rival Labor Day dog-eating fest to be taped for TV as long as no hot dog brand was mentioned.
But they said they drew the line on letting Chestnut pitch for a different hot dog brand.
A source said Chestnut was paid $200,000 to appear in the Nathan’s contest last year, and was offered a $1.2 million, four-year contract going forward.
“The two sides could still come to a resolution before July 4, but it depends on Joey,” an insider said.
“He’s the Michael Jordan of competitive eating. But imagine if Michael Jordan said to Nike, ‘I love being the face of Nike but I want to do commercials for Adidas too,” the source said.
You know you’re that dude when someone says you’re the Michael Jordan of whatever you do even if that thing is gobbling glizzies. We wonder if there’s a porn star out there considered the Joey Chestnut of the industry. We’re not going to look into that though.
Following the news of his ouster of this year’s competition, Joey Chestnut took to Instagram to voice his displeasure over the decision and called out Nathan’s over his business decision saying, “To set the record straight, I do not have a contract with MLE or Nathan’s and they are looking to change the rules from past years as it relates to other partners I can work with. This is apparently the basis on which I’m being banned, and it doesn’t impact the July 4th contest.”
At the end of the day, only the fans will suffer from this decision.
What do y’all think of Nathan’s Famous barring Joey Chestnut from this year’s hot dog eating contest? Fair or foul? Let us know in the comments section below.
