16-Time Champion Banned from Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Competition

BROOKLYN, NY— A hot dog-eating champion has been banned from 2024 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Competition coming up on July 4, 2024.

16-time Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Competition Champion Joey Chestnut has been banned from this year’s annual American event over a brand deal he signed with Impossible Foods.

Impossible Foods is a vegan food company that makes imposter meat that is made with plants. Chestnut signed a four-year, $1.2 million deal with the company.

Chestnut has won the competition 16 times and has won eight straight since 2016. In 2021, he set a world record after eating 76 hot dogs. Then, in 2022, Chestnut put a protester in a chokehold and threw him to the ground.

Some say this is un-American to ban the champion while others have said that if you want to eat vegan hot dogs, move to Russia.