Joey "Jaws" Chestnut is without a doubt the GOAT of competitive eating, and Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4th has been his Superbowl for 19 years and counting. But that all changed when MLE (Major League Eating) banned Joey from this year's competition due to an endorsement deal with Impossible Foods.

The contest is less than a week away, and Joey Chestnut revealed on Klein.Ally.Show that the MLE did reach out asking to strike a deal and reverse the ban so he could participate. But according to him, it wasn't enough to bring him back to the eating table.

“It’s unfortunate,” Joey says. “Major League Eating, Nathans, they felt really threatened that I was doing a little bit of work with Impossible Foods. I mean, Impossible -- delicious chicken nuggets and they don't even sell hot dogs. I've never even seen them in the grocery stores. I think they kind of exaggerated my relationship with them.”

“I don't know if backstabbed,” would be the right word to describe the feeling he admits. “I know it felt like they were moving the goalposts. Looking at my contracts, I've been allowed to work with meat companies… they had a list of probably about 60 companies I couldn't work with and Impossible wasn't on the list.”

“They moved the goalposts… Yeah, it's odd but you know… we have to live with it and maybe we'll figure it out later,” he adds.

“But, dude, I got the contest against Kobayashi coming up on Labor Day,” Chestnut revealed regarding his upcoming battle with his archnemesis set as a live event on Netflix. “They're gonna have an audience for sure, and it's gonna be intense and hopefully,” he says, “they're gonna be pushing us hard.”

Continuing Joey’s unfortunate story this year, he says “they reached out, they said ‘all right, you can work with Impossible this year but you have to sign a four-year deal and you can't ever work with them again.’ It's like… you can't just un-ban me and then say that. It was disingenuous some of their negotiating so, you know, I'll respect their ban and maybe they'll rethink their position.”

“I'll still be eating hot dogs this fourth of July… Fort Bliss Army base in West Texas. I'll be out there… I'm just dealing with it and I'm gonna have fun… eat a bunch of hot dogs with some soldiers in the Army and I'll make the best of it.”

Listen to Klein.Ally.Show's full conversation with Joey Chestnut above.

Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Klein.Ally.Show