Hot dog champ Joey Chestnut calls sportswriter ‘narrow-minded’ for bad-mouthing competitive eating

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Competitive eater Joey Chestnut says a famous sportswriter’s criticism of his sport is a little hard to swallow.

Peter King, the former football writer for Sports Illustrated who now works for NBC Sports, took a shot at competitive eating in a Twitter message on Tuesday.

“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,” King wrote.

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King was commenting on “The Good, The Bad, The Hungry,” a new documentary by ESPN’s “30 for 30” series that examines the world of hot dog-eating contests and other competitive eating events.

Joey Chestnut wins the Nathan's Annual Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2017. (Associated Press)

When asked about King’s comments, Chestnut described the remarks as something of a cheap shot.

“I think Peter King … he’s kind of narrow-minded,” Chestnut told TMZ Sports. “He’s picking low-hanging fruit.

“It’s easy to criticize something,” Chestnut continued. “He could easily criticize NASCAR for greenhouse gas emissions.”

Chestnut told the outlet that eating contests actually use a “very small” amount of food and the organization Major League Eating donates to food banks around the country.

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Chestnut, 35, a native of Kentucky who now resides in San Jose, Calif., is preparing to defend his title Thursday in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, a Fourth of July tradition at Coney Island, N.Y.

Chestnut has won the men’s title seven of the past eight years, and won the last four overall titles before the contest was split into separate men’s and women’s competitions.