Joey Chestnut, the reigning champion of Nathan's Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest, on Thursday blasted sportswriter Peter King for calling competitive eating "disgusting."
King, in a comment criticizing ESPN and its 30 for 30 series for doing a documentary on the eating contest, tweeted:
"A shame that as at least a fifth of children in America go to bed hungry nightly they're highlighting gluttony, treating someone who overeats excessively as a 'competitive athlete.' Truly disgusting."
The episode, titled "The Good, the Bad, the Hungry," covered Chestnut and his rivalry with fellow competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi.
In an interview with TMZ Sports, Chestnut said the sportswriter had not been fair to the organization since it regularly contributes to food banks.
"I think Peter King . . . he's kind of narrow-minded," Chestnut said ahead of the 2019 competition, which he went on to win for the 12th time after eating 71 hot dogs in 10 minutes. "He's picking low-hanging fruit. It's easy to criticize something. He could easily criticize NASCAR for greenhouse gas emissions."
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