Stephen A. Smith made his return to the “The Stephen A. Smith Show” after vacation and addressed a lot of topics in the latest episode. While shedding light on Nathan’s Fourth of July hot dog contest, however, Smith expressed his lack of desire to meet champion Joey Chestnut.
Nathan’s Fourth of July hot dog contest is a legendary competition where some of the heavy-hitters in the world of competitive eating duke it out against each other. Amongst these aforementioned “heavy-hitters”, Joey Chestnut is practically a legend.
Chestnut participated in the event for the first time in 2005. After winning for the first time in 2015, the competitive eating icon has gone on to win each year since. The most recent iteration of the event saw “Jaws” rack up a total of 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes – 14 shy of his personal best.
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On this note, Stephen A. even spoke about Chestnut’s title win in the latest episode of his show. However, Smith had a very polarizing take on the accomplishment. He said:
(Watch Smith’s comments from 1:05:00-1:06:20)
“Joey Chestnut, for those of you who don’t know, is the dude that just won some contest eating a bunch of hot dogs. I don’t remember the exact number of the hot dogs, but I know this much – It’s nasty as s**t.”
Smith continued by elaborating the process of how one goes about dipping hot dogs in water to make them easier to eat. He then concluded by saying:
“Joey Chestnut – I wish you nothing but the best. Stay away from me though. Don’t want to meet you. You might burp and I might smell it from a mile away. I don’t need that in my life.”
Smith’s repulsion went as far as to deny Chestnut his props as an “athlete” as well. While referring to a comparison made between Chestnut and late NBA legend Bill Russell, it was evident why Stephen A. had an issue with the matter.
Stephen A. Smith fears for his job
ESPN recently underwent a massive personnel overhaul as over 20 of their on-air talents were fired for the purposes of “cost saving”. Some of those who were let go of were even popular figures such as Jalen Rose and Jeff Van Gundy.
In light of the large-scale changes going on at ESPN, Stephen A. Smith was under no illusions regarding his own job security. To this extent, Smith even voiced his own concerns regarding the possibility of him being fired.
(Smith’s comments begin around the 46-minute mark)
While considering the value Smith has to ESPN, it seems unlikely that they would let him go. However, stranger things have happened in the past and as Smith said, there may still be more to come.
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