The President of the United States cheated in several ways last night, and we have been watching cheating become an accepted norm in the worlds of government, politics, law, academia, and sports. And so it has come to this: there was either cheating or an “appearance of impropriety” at Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest over the Fourth of July.
When competitor Nick Wehry finished the 10 minute contest, judges ruled that he had eaten 46.75 hot dogs and buns, placing him 4th. But Wehry asked to have the officials check his results and they determined that there was an additional empty plate in his “finished” stack, which is how judges determine how many wieners an individual has eaten. The recount gave him a new score of 51.75.
Then the New York Post published “Buns of Steal”, reporting that witnesses accused Wehry of tampering with the empty plate total to add to his score. On EatFeats, an anonymous commenter posted links to videos with timestamps seeming to show that Wehry illicitly added to his empty plate count.
Wehry denied that accusations, but yesterday asked the event’s administrator to reduce his score. He agreed that a video showed him touching another competitor’s plates after the competition was over. “Because I did touch another eater’s plates and because this gives the appearance or possibility of impropriety I have asked Major League Eating to adjust my score down,” he said in a statement. Plus an upside-down U.S. flag had been seen flying over his home. [Kidding!] Since the lower score didn’t change Nick’s placing, this was a great way to appear ethical, even if he in fact had attempted to cheat.
What’s going on here? I have no idea as far as Wehry is concerned, but from a macro-perspective, I think that this is what happens when our leaders, elites and most prominent members of society indicate that they believe the ends justify the means and conduct themselves accordingly. Now the ethics rot has reached all the way to July 4th hot dog eating competitions. Yes, Geena? You raised your hand?
Yeah, I hear you. If you can’t even trust a silly hot dog-eating contest to be on the up and up, what can you trust?
A final note: Joey Chestnut, generally considered the greatest professional eater of all time, was disqualified from participating in the event because he signed an endorsement deal with a vegan-meat company.
This
Ethics Alarms 
I find that hot dog engorging contest absolutely repulsive. I think Nathan’s should discontinue it. It brings out my third-grade little Catholic kid putting pennies in my St. Peter’s Might (sp?) box for people starving in Africa.
Mite, I think, like the Widow’s Mite. But I think it’s Peter’s Pence, no? It brings out me and my friends chucking our UNICEF boxes one Halloween and deciding we’d rather keep the money ourselves and buy more Star Wars toys.
Correctamundo. Peter’s Pence. Hah! I guess your age was dealing with people starving in Biafra. What the heck ever happened to Biafra, anyway, never mind the people starving there?
No, we were mocking people starving in Ethiopia and saying their national anthem was “Aren’t you huuuuuungry” from a Burger King commercial of the time.
Boys, boys, boys…
Hey, what is the score of the Ethiopian baseball game?
Eight-nothing! 🤣
I had to look it up…. Its gone now. It seceded from Nigeria in 1967 and precipitated the Nigerian civil war. Nigeria won and reclaimed Biafra in 1970. For the record, both it and Ethiopia are (were?) in Africa.
When I was a wee lad it was the Armenians: “starving Armenian” was almost a single word, much like “damnYankee” south of the Mason-Dixon. Korean orphans eventually replaced them in that category…
Wait. “Appearance of impropriety”? In a competition promoting gluttony? The entire thing is unethical.
jvb
Greg Gutfield made me laugh out loud last night talking about this when he shouted., “Next they’ll be letting trans competitors into the contest!”
Boy does he have an annoying voice.
Bit, but not Cartman level.
He does but he is very clever and quick on his feet.
jvb
John nailed it: Gluttony. One of the Seven Deadly Sins.
Bing Videos
Cool Hand Luke would have no chance against Joey Chestnut – 141 Hard boiled eggs in 8 minutes.
Just watching that scene in the movie made me nauseous.