Source: Brandon Sloter/Getty
In recent years, many celebrities and people you may know have decided to change their daily diet and follow a vegan lifestyle. While this has little to no effect on their professional lives, hot dog eating legend Joey Chestnut's decision to go vegan led to his termination from his competitive hot dog eating “job.”
According the New York Post, the reigning hot dog eating champion has been told he will not be allowed to compete in this year's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island after signing a deal with plant-based food company Impossible Foods. With Impossible Foods sponsoring the man who once devoured 76 sweets in a single 10-minute sitting, Nathan's lowkey higher-ups felt betrayed by Chestnut's latest venture. While he hasn't been blatantly “banned” from the competition, he has effectively been banned from competing in this year's event.
The New York Post References:
A spokesman for Major League Eating (MLE), which Nathan is sanctioning to put on the event, said organizers bent over backwards to accommodate Chestnut's various other demands.
They even agreed to let him participate in a competitive Labor Day dog-eating fest to be televised, as long as no hot dog brand was mentioned.
But they said they drew the line at letting Chestnut compete for a different hot dog brand.
A source said Chestnut was paid $200,000 to appear on Nathan's competition last year and has been offered a four-year, $1.2 million contract going forward.
“The two sides could still come to a solution before July 4, but it's up to Joey,” the insider said.
“He's the Michael Jordan of competitive eating. But imagine if Michael Jordan told Nike, 'I love being the face of Nike, but I also want to do ads for Adidas,'” the source said.
You know you're so cool when someone says you're Michael Jordan for whatever you do, even if that thing is sweet. We wonder if there is any porn star out there who is considered the Joey Chestnut of the industry. We're not going to look into that though.
Following the news of his removal from this year's competition, Joey Chestnut took to Instagram to express his displeasure with the decision and called out Nathan for his business decision saying, “To set the record straight, I'm not under contract with MLE or Nathan's and they are trying to change the rules from previous years as they relate to other partners I can work with. This is obviously the basis on which I have been disqualified and it does not affect the July 4th competition.”
At the end of the day, only the fans will suffer from this decision.
What do you think of Nathan's Famous knocking Joey Chestnut out of this year's hot dog eating contest? Fair or foul? Let us know in the comments section below.
