Joey Chestnut reveals fresh negotiations with Nathan’s over July 4 Hot Dog Eating Contest ban

Legendary eating competition star Joey Chestnut has once again criticized Nathan’s after they banned him from their July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Chestnut is a 19-year veteran of the annual Coney Island event, but will not attend this year after being suspended for signing a deal with rival Impossible Foods.

After all the nasty fallout from this decision, Chestnut announced that he plans to join the army soldiers at Fort Bliss Army Base in Texas on July 4. He is also preparing for a Netflix duel with his old rival Takeru Kobayashi.

But despite Chestnut moving on to other plans, he has now revealed that new negotiations are underway with Nathan’s and has hinted at a future return to the Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4.

But before that, he took another swipe at the hot dog giant, claiming that it and Major League Eating (MLE) had “shifted the goalposts.”

The loyal fan will not be on stage at Coney Island this year after being banned by organisers

“It’s unfortunate,” Chestnut told the Klein.Ally.Show. “Major League Eating, Nathan’s, they really felt threatened that I was doing a little bit of work with Impossible Foods. I mean, Impossible — delicious chicken nuggets and they don’t even sell hot dogs.

“I’ve never seen them in the supermarket. I think they exaggerated my relationship with them a little bit.”

“I don’t know if ‘stab in the back’ is the right word to describe the feeling,” he adds, before noting: “I know it felt like they were moving the goalposts.

“When I look at my contracts, I see that I was allowed to work with meat companies… they had a list of probably 60 companies that I wasn’t allowed to work with and Impossible wasn’t on that list.

“They moved the goalposts… Yeah, it’s strange, but you know… we have to live with it and maybe we’ll find out later.”

Chestnut has now revealed that new talks are underway with organisers and has indicated that he may return in the future

Chestnut then talked about his live Netflix fight with his Japanese rival Kobayashi, who comes out of retirement for the fight.

What the future holds after that is still unclear, but he indicated that further discussions with Nathan could lead to him appearing back on the Coney Island stage at a later date.

“They reached out to me and said, ‘Okay, you can work with Impossible this year, but you have to sign a four-year contract and you can never work with them again.’ It was like, ‘You can’t just unban me and say that.’”

According to Major League Eating, Chestnut is welcome to return to the annual competition when his conflicting sponsorship ends

“Some of their negotiations were unfair, so you know, I will respect their ban and maybe they will reconsider their position.”

Chestnut has been competing against the world’s best competitive eaters at Nathan’s since 2005 and hasn’t lost since 2015. In 2021, the Indiana native set the current record of 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

His deal with vegetarian frank maker Impossible Foods will prevent him from winning a record 17th title at Coney Island. The problem, organizers told the New York Post, is Chestnut’s insistence on endorsing the rival hot dog.

Chestnut, who has attended the festivities for nearly two decades, admits he will miss the Brooklyn atmosphere this year.

“These people have been sitting in the sun, waiting,” Chestnut said earlier. “They know what to expect. And they’re not shocked. They’re cheering and screaming and pushing me.”