{"id":107,"date":"2026-05-21T12:41:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=107"},"modified":"2026-05-21T12:41:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T12:41:28","slug":"pro-eater-joey-chestnut-free-to-compete-despite-slap-flap-league-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=107","title":{"rendered":"Pro eater Joey Chestnut free to compete despite slap flap, league says"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>Joey Chestnut won\u2019t face the wrath of Major League Eating over the competitive eater\u2019s battery charge for drunkenly slapping a man in March.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=105\">Michelin honors 21 Bay Area\/California restaurants as \u2018new discoveries\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>George Shea, chairman of the pro-eating contests\u2019 global overseer, told TMZ Sports Wednesday that MLE has no plans to punish the 42-year-old, who it\u2019s dubbed\u00a0the \u201cgreatest eater in history,\u201d despite Chestnut pleading guilty to the misdemeanor last month.<\/p>\n<p>The group runs the annual Nathan\u2019s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island on the Fourth of July, which Chestnut has won a record 17 times.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMajor League Eating manages the eaters for this and other contests,\u201d said Shea. \u201cThis incident does not violate the organization\u2019s code of conduct, as it occurred outside any organizational event or activity and was addressed by local authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chestnut slapped the man on March 21 at a sports bar in his native Indiana, after which he was charged with criminal misdemeanor battery resulting from bodily injury.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=103\">Yelp\u2019s Top 100 BBQ list: San Bruno, SF, Sunnyvale restaurants make the cut<\/a><\/p>\n<p>He pleaded guilty on April 17 and was sentenced to 180 days of probation, according to court records viewed by USA Today.<\/p>\n<p>A representative for Chestnut told TMZ Sports that the incident was preceded by \u201cinappropriate things\u201d and that the hot dog-devouring champ\u2019s actions were \u201cmisinterpreted,\u201d though he hopes not to find himself in similarly hairy situations in the future.<\/p>\n<p>Chestnut on the Fourth in 2025 returned to his hot dog-downing glory on Coney Island,\u00a0winning the annual Nathan\u2019s contest when he scarfed down 70.5 wieners, recapturing the coveted Mustard Yellow Belt.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>He had been on a year\u2019s hiatus from the event due to partnering with vegan brand Impossible Foods.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=101\">AT&amp;T, blocked by California regulators from scrapping landlines, launches double-barreled appeal at federal level<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joey Chestnut&#8217;s Major League Eating record won&#8217;t be affected by his recent guilty plea in a battery case, for which the hot dog-inhaling champ is currently on probation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-things-to-do"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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