Nathan’s Hot Dog Contest Won’t Punish Joey Chestnut After Guilty Plea
Chestnut was charged for misdemeanor battery at an Indiana bar.
Nathan’s Famous won’t bar 17-time champion Joey Chestnut from competing at its hot dog eating contest this year, even after Chestnut pleaded guilty on April 20 to misdemeanor battery. Chestnut was accused of hitting a man in an Indiana bar altercation on March 21. He was sentenced to 180 days of probation, which includes the July 4 date of the hot dog contest.
“Joey is not going to be penalized or barred from participating in this year’s Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest,” a Nathan’s spokesperson told Front Office Sports. “This incident has nothing to do with Nathan’s. ” Nathan’s has not responded to an FOS inquiry about its personal conduct policy for competitors at its annual contest.
The contest is administered by Major League Eating (MLE), sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE). A representative for MLE declined to comment on the matter. Bar surveillance footage revealed that Chestnut slapped a man in the face after they initially shook hands with each other, according to Us Weekly .
Chestnut told police the day after the incident that he was intoxicated when he struck the man. He also said then that the slap “looked like a joke” but presumed that he “must have taken offense” to something said by the victim. According to police, Chestnut pulled the altercation victim forward and hit him, before “[standing] over him” and later moving toward him again.