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- Joey Chestnut won't compete in Nathan's hot-dog-eating contest this year.
- Major League Eating, the event overseer, cited Chestnut's partnership with a rival brand.
- "Meat eaters shouldn't have to be exclusive to just one wiener," Impossible Foods told BI.
The competitive-eating champ Joey Chestnut has been kicked out of an upcoming contest over a beef between him and the Coney Island hot-dog-eating competition he's won a whopping 16 times.
Chestnut, 40, won't participate in this year's Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4 — an event he won last year after pounding 62 hot dogs.
In a statement posted to X on Tuesday, Major League Eating — the governing body that oversees the event — said Chestnut had "chosen to represent a rival brand that sells plant-based hot dogs rather than competing."
The League cited "hot dog exclusivity provisions" that have been enshrined for nearly two decades.
The New York Post reported that Chestnut's deal was with Impossible Foods.
"We love Joey and support him in any contest he chooses," an Impossible Foods spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement. "It's okay to experiment with a new dog. Meat eaters shouldn't have to be exclusive to just one wiener."
Chestnut, in his own statement to X, said he was "gutted to learn from the media" that he'd been "banned" from Nathan's hot-dog-eating contest after 19 years.
He said he'd been training to defend his title.
"I do not have a contract with MLE or Nathans and they are looking to change the rules from past years as it relates to other partners I can work with," Chestnut wrote.
MLE told Business Insider in a statement that it paid Chestnut to appear and compete for more than a decade — and that the competitive-eating star had promised not to promote rival hot-dog brands.
"The idea that Nathan's or MLE changed the rules of this provision this year is as ridiculous as it is silly," the organization said.
"What company would pay someone an appearance fee of several hundred thousand dollars and knowingly let them endorse a direct competitor immediately afterwards?" MLE said in a statement.
A rep for Nathan's Famous did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
"To my fans, I love you and appreciate you," Chestnut concluded. "Rest assured that you'll see me eat again soon!!"