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Hot dog eating god Joey Chestnut has a brand new BEEF — this time, he’s biting back at legendary sports reporter Peter King who’s crapping all over food eating competitions.
FYI, King has a real problem with ESPN releasing a new “30 for 30” special this week on the rivalry between Chestnut and his wiener-gobbling rival, Takeru Kobayashi.
“A shame that as at least a fifth of children in America go to bed hungry nightly [ESPN is] highlighting gluttony, treating someone who overeats excessively as a ‘competitive athlete,'” King wrote … “Truly disgusting.”
So, when we spotted Chestnut in NYC — getting ready to defend his mustard yellow belt at the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4 on Coney Island, we had to ask for his thoughts.
“I think Peter King … he’s kind of narrow-minded,” Chestnut said … “He’s picking low hanging fruit.”
“It’s easy to criticize something … he could easily criticize NASCAR for greenhouse gas emissions.”
Chestnut says at the end of the day, the amount of food consumed at the competition is “very small” — and notes that Major League Eating is very involved in donating to food banks around the country.
There’s more … Chestnut also said he wants to end his rivalry with Kobayashi once and for all — telling TMZ Sports he’d love to sit down with Takeru and hash things out once and for all.