Nathan's Hot Dogs Knew About, Agreed to Joey Chestnut Netflix Event

It's been a dramatic week for hot dog fans out there after it was announced that Joey Chestnut would not be participating in the upcoming Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. 

With rumors pouring out like ketchup out of a Heinz bottle about whose to blame and the recent announcement of Chestnut having a Netflix exclusive eat-off against longtime hot dog rival Kobayashi, many are wondering who dropped the bun. 

What we now know and OutKick can report is the following:

Despite speculation that Joey Chestnut only went to Netflix because he was angry at Nathan's for not allowing him to compete, that is false. According to sources directly involved with the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Competition, there had been negotiations back and forth "for weeks now," and both companies were fine with allowing Chestnut to be involved in both - so long as Netflix's event had unbranded hot dogs. The streaming service had no problem with that.

NATHAN'S SAYS THERE'S NO ISSUE WITH CHESTNUT DOING NETFLIX

Where the disagreement came from was when Chestnut informed Nathan's that he would be signing a branding deal with Impossible Hot Dogs - a plant-based, often Vegan-associated rival dog product. Conversations have been going on between Chestnut's team and organizers for weeks but have not been able to compromise on this so far. Our sources informed us that Nathan's would love to have Joey Chestnut as a contestant and is hoping for a resolution, but ultimately, it's on Chestnut's plate because he's the one with the Impossible offer.

Last year, Nathan's and Chestnut worked out a $200,000 one-year marketing deal, with reports that it was offering him a four-year, $1.2 million reported brand contract this year. According to sources, the unofficial-but-official essential "ban" pretty much came down to just straight business; Nathan's is world renowned for its hot dog competition, it isn't going to allow its most likely champion to participate and then jump over to a rival.

Sounds like the hot dog version of the PGA and LIV Golf battles.

It does make sense, however. For years, people have been asking why Taylor Swift wouldn't do the Super Bowl Halftime Show. The answer was very simple - she had signed an endorsement deal with Coca-Cola and the Halftime Show was produced by Pepsi. 

NETFLIX COMING UP BIG

However, unlike Chestnut releasing a statement in which he said he was "gutted to learn" that he had been banned from this year's Nathan's competition, Swift's team never issued any sort of public statement on not being allowed to perform at Pepsi's Halftime Show.

One thing that can't be denied is Netflix's brilliant move of knowing what viewers want. 

If you thought Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson was going to be a must-watch battle, you haven't seen anything yet!