Animal rights protesters rushed the stage at the Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest in Coney Island on Monday, spraying fake blood on the contestants and knocking over trays of hot dogs. Soon afterward NYPD officers grabbed and removed the protesters, but the protesters struggled, and mayhem ensued.
Lucky for us, one of the contestants tweeted a video of the whole bizarre incident.
Though the contestant, Dan Katz, referred to the protesters as PETA activists, PETA has denied any involvement. Instead, the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere has come forward to take credit for the protest, the New York Daily News reported.
“This grotesque event takes a day of celebration and turns it into a festival of violence and gore for animals no different than our dogs and cats,” DAE’s Rachel Ziegler told the News.
Meanwhile, Katz complained that the protest hurt his binge-eating performance.
“Probably would have hit 80 Hot Dogs without that lost time,” he tweeted. “#JustSaying.”
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