Waitrose editor forced out over ‘kill vegans’ joke
TV food critic William Sitwell was forced out of his job as editor of Waitrose’s magazine yesterday after making a joke about killing vegans.
Sitwell, 49, came under fire on social media for comments he made to a writer who suggested a series of articles on plantbased meals.
He was accused of hate speech for replying: ‘How about a series on killing vegans, one by one? Ways to trap them? How to interrogate them properly? Expose their hypocrisy? Forcefeed them meat? Make them eat steak and drink red wine?’
Sitwell, a regular guest on BBC’s MasterChef, apologised to anybody ‘ genuinely offended’ by his ‘ill-judged’ comments, made in a private exchange of emails. He resigned yesterday as editor of Waitrose Food magazine but MPs and food writers accused the supermarket of forcing him out over ‘a storm in a teacup’.
Fellow restaurant critic Giles Coren said: ‘ Vegans are not a race or a gender or a sexual orientation or a differently abled group. They just choose to eat plants. You should be able to take the p*** and not lose your job.’
Tom Parker Bowles said the decision by the upmarket food chain was ‘pathetic’. The Duchess of Cornwall’s son, who is a friend of Sitwell and whose sister is married to Sitwell’s brother-in-law Harry Lopes, said: ‘This whole William Sitwell business is a disgrace.
‘A brilliant editor, forced to resign ( I assume) over a joke. Yes, he’s a mate, but really. Waitrose have simply capitulated at the merest whiff of manufactured outrage.’
Matthew Fort, a judge on the BBC’s Great British Menu, told the Daily Mail: ‘ Clearly it was an illadvised joke and actually we have all been subjected to this kind of response for similar ill- judged remarks. It is a storm in a teacup and it is a great pity that he has lost his job because he has been a great editor.’
Conservative MP Andrew Percy said: ‘ What he wrote may not have
‘People now have a humour bypass’
been funny and may have been crass but it was a joke.
‘Nobody believed for a second that he wants to see vegans murdered.
‘ People now have a humour bypass. It is ridiculous that people who in other environments defend freedom of speech operate as censors online.’
Waitrose said Sitwell’s decision to step down from the post he has held since 2002 was the ‘right and proper move’ and reiterated its opposition to his comments.
The Vegan Society said: ‘ We hope this sets a precedent that it’s not acceptable to mock a group of people because of their lifestyle choice.
‘The problem here was that these comments were made in a profes- sional capacity and they don’t align with what Waitrose believes in.
The controversy began on Monday when freelance journalist Selene Nelson revealed how Sitwell had responded when she emailed him last week to suggest articles reflecting the ‘huge rise in veganism’.
There are an estimated 3.5million in the UK who follow a diet free from meat, dairy and other animal products including honey. Waitrose has installed vegan-only aisles to capitalise on the growing trend.
Sitwell is the grandson of writer Sir Sacheverell Sitwell and grandnephew of poet Dame Edith Sitwell and author Osbert Sitwell. Last year he left his first wife Laura for Emily Lopes, 20 years his junior, who is now his second wife.