TikToker apologizes after being permabanned from New York Marathon for cheating

TikToker Matt Choi has apologized after receiving a lifetime ban from the New York Marathon for running with people on bikes following him and filming the race.

With over 400,000 followers on both Instagram and TikTok, influencer Matt Choi has made himself known by uploading videos of himself running in events.

On Sunday, November 3, Choi finished the New York Marathon in just under three hours but was disqualified from the event after he ran the course with two people beside him riding bikes and filming his race for content.

According to the marathon’s rules, runners cannot allow an unregistered person to run with them during the event.

Runner’s World shared a statement from the organization behind the event, stating that he has been removed from the results and banned.

“After a review and due to violations of World Athletics rules, and New York Road Runners’ Code of Conduct and Rules of Competition, NYRR has disqualified Matt Choi from the 2024 TCS New York City Marathon and removed him from the results,” they said. “He has been banned from any future NYRR races.”

Choi took to his Instagram page to issue an apology, saying that he was “selfish” and takes “full accountability” for his actions.

“I f**ked up. I have no excuses. I was selfish on Sunday and had my brother and videographer follow me around on e-bikes and it had serious consequences. It endangered other runners, it impacted people going for PBs, we blocked people from getting water, and with the New York City Marathon being about everyone else, I made it about myself,” he said.

“For anyone I impacted, I’m sorry.”

He continued: “Although there is an opportunity to appeal [the ban], I’m not going to. I made my bed, so I’m gonna lay in it. This isn’t my first time being called out for using e-bikes to shoot content, but it won’t happen again.”

Choi is far from the first marathon runner to gain attention across social media. Back in 2023, a Boston Marathon participant went viral after a video of him appearing to poop in a stranger’s yard was posted to TikTok.