The editor of a British food magazine has stepped down after making a joke in an email to a freelancer that he would be keen to develop a series about “killing vegans.”
In his email, Waitrose & Partners Food Magazine editor William Sitwell also suggested other forms of degradation that he would like to see vegans subjected to including “force-feed[ing] them meat.”
“We have been informed by John Brown Media, who produce the Waitrose & Partners Food Magazine, that William Sitwell is stepping down as Editor of Waitrose & Partners Food magazine with immediate effect,” said the magazine in a statement on Wednesday.
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“In the light of William’s recent email remarks, we’ve told John Brown Media that we believe this is the right and proper move – we will be working with them to appoint a new editor for the magazine. We have had a relationship with William for almost 20 years and are grateful for his contribution to our business over that time.”
A rep for the company referred TheWrap to their public remarks.
Hi, We understand how you feel and can assure you that William’s email absolutely doesn’t represent our views about vegans and vegan food. Please see our statement here: https://t.co/I9ZCfe4Gms Thank you. – Steph
— Waitrose & Partners (@waitrose) October 31, 2018
The publication is owned by upscale British supermarket chain Waitrose.
Sitwell also apologized “to any food- and life-loving vegan who was genuinely offended by remarks written by me as an ill-judged joke in a private email and now widely reported” in a public Instagram post.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bpl8Kfwncyg/?utm_source=ig_embed
The email that ended Sitwell’s tenure with the publication occurred after freelancer Selene Nelson pitched him on the idea of a new vegan food series. Nelson posted screengrabs of the email on Twitter after BuzzFeed initially reported on the story.
“Hi Selene. Thanks for this,” said Sitwell. “How about a series in killing vegans, one by one. Ways to trap them? How to interrogate them properly? Expose their hypocrisy? force-feed them meat? Make them eat steak and drink red wine?
“I’m certainly interested in exploring why just the mention of veganism seems to make some people so hostile,” said Nelson in a gingerly follow up. “It sounds like you have some opinions on this.”
Following the article on @BuzzFeed – and in the interests of transparency – here’s my original pitch to the editor of Waitrose, along with my response to his reply. No “triggered vegans” here, thanks! 🙂 #Vegan #Waitrose pic.twitter.com/bjRon1N0bb
— Selene Nelson ?”? (@Selene_Nelson) October 29, 2018
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