Joey Chestnut responds to Peter King criticism of competitive eating

Longtime NFL reporter Peter King had a huge issue with ESPN focusing its latest “30 for 30” documentary on competitive eating, and the greatest competitive eater of all time feels the criticism is unwarranted.

After ESPN aired its latest “30 for 30,” King ripped the network for treating competitive eaters as athletes when there are children in America who are starving. He called the feature “truly disgusting.”

ESPN and the @30for30 franchise has done some really great docs and journalism.
A shame that as at least a fifth of children in America go to bed hungry nightly they’re highlighting gluttony, treating someone who overeats excessively as a “competitive athlete.” Truly disgusting.

— Peter King (@peter_king) July 3, 2019

Joey Chestnut was asked by TMZ if he has any thoughts on King’s outrage, and he did not hold back.

“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.

“It’s just kind of absurd. The amount of food we’re eating is very, very small. And actually, most of the contests are involved with donations to food banks. He’s just kind of narrow-minded.”

Chestnut also reiterated that he considers himself an athlete, which we already knew from some of the comments he made in the past. It’s no surprise he didn’t appreciate King’s take.