July 4th is a holiday to celebrate the independence of our country for most Americans, although some Democrats couldn’t seem to get that concept down, preferring to use the day to throw tantrums.
Joey Chestnut has added meaning for July Fourth. For Chestnut, it’s the day he defends his title as the Nathan’s Hot Dog eating champion.
He began his journey already hobbled. Due to a leg injury, he had to be able walk on crutches and wear a cast.
Coney Island hot-dog eating champ Joey Chestnut will defend his title on crutches https://t.co/3B810P9cxw pic.twitter.com/45W6hxIwrl
— New York Post (@nypost) July 2, 2022
Chestnut said it was a ruptured tendon but, “I’ll be able to stand up and eat,” he said. “I’m not eating with my leg.” “I’m gonna eat like a madman,” he promised.
In just ten minutes, he was able to make 76 hotdogs last year. This is a new world record.
“When the barren hills and the cracked earth and the once-proud oceans drain to sand, there will still be a monument to our existence,” emcee and Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest host George Shea said of the reigning champ.
“This man represents all that is eternal in the human spirit.”
But this year, it wasn’t just the hurdle of a tendon and crutches that he had to overcome during the contest.
As Chestnut was shoveling away the hot dogs, a protester charged up next to him, shoving him and waving a sign that said, “Expose Smithfield Death Star,” a protest against the Smithfield food company. The next scene was amazing.
ESPN didn’t show the electric moment that glizzy gladiator Joey Chestnut put a protester in a chokehold 🌭🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/G5F5PsBffa
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) July 4, 2022
I will joey the chesnut-haters pic.twitter.com/xWYD8bo7Kg
— jr (#KnoxHive) (@SlXTYMELO) July 4, 2022
Joey Chestnut manhandles protester before record 15th Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest win https://t.co/BdABWnGykj pic.twitter.com/C86XxoRrg7
— New York Post (@nypost) July 4, 2022
Chestnut was lucky he didn’t choke on a hot dog when the guy shoved into him and that was also on the side of his injured leg.
But Chestnut grabbed the protester around the neck and body-slammed him, with a little help from another man, and then didn’t seem to miss a beat in the process, continuing to eat away at the hot dogs without a pause.
You can also see two more protestors, one being taken off stage unceremoniously by a huge police officer.
Was this the protester? in the Storm Trooper mask holding an “Expose Smithfield’s Deathstar” sign doing at #NathansHotDogEatingContest pic.twitter.com/h6jXshv3j4
— Bobby Olivier (@BobbyOlivier) July 4, 2022
Chestnut still managed to cook 63 hotdogs despite the interruption. His record is a bit lower than last year but it was still enough to win his fifteenth title. In spite of the protest, he beat his closest rival by 20 hotdogs.
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