WATCH: Hot Dog Champion Annihilates Protester and Still Wins by a Long-Shot
In the annals of sports history, there are but a few names who can claim the complete and utter domination of their discipline. Tom Brady. Michael Jordan. Wayne Gretzky. Babe Ruth.
And Joey Chestnut.
Chestnut, who is now the 15-time world champion of hot dog eating won his most recent title on Monday, at Coney Island, of course, dominating the field and besting his closest competitor by 20-plus frankfurters.
But this was no ordinary contest. Chestnut was the odds-on favorite, of course, but this year the tube meat king was competing on crutches after breaking his leg.
Furthermore, the elite eater was forced to stop in the middle of the contest to help incapacitate a protester who crashed the stage to protest factory farming.
And by “incapacitate”, we mean completely obliterate.
A bizarre incident unfolded Monday early on in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest when a protestor rushed the stage and bumped into 15-time champion Joey Chestnut.
Advertisement - story continues belowAs security rushed to remove the protestor, Chestnut briefly took matters into his own hands – literally. Chestnut, in the middle of his competitive eating prowess with his face stuffed with hot dogs, grew frustrated with the distracting stage rusher and put the person into a mini chokehold.
A security guard removed the fan quickly after the brief exchange with Chestnut. And without skipping a beat, Chestnut went right back to eating hot dogs as the person was taken off the stage.
Video of the incident was soon circulating on social media, but we must warn you that the moment was fairly violent.
Joey Chestnut slams down a protester at a hot dog eating contest
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 4, 2022
Chestnut would go on to eat 63 hot dogs in ten minutes, but had publicly hoped to top 80, which would have bested his standing record of 76.
This was Chestnut’s 7th win in a row at the 4th of July contest.