Vegan freelance journalist Selene Nelson recently met with former Waitrose editor William Sitwell after finding themselves in the center of a media storm. Last month, Sitwell quit the United Kingdom-based food magazine after coming under fire for suggesting vegans should be killed in an email reply to Nelson, who pitched him a vegan cooking series. In the email—which was leaked to the public—Sitwell wrote: “Hi Selene. Thanks for this. How about a series on 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?” The story made headlines around the world, and Sitwell announced his resignation from Waitrose two days later. “William first wrote to me to apologize for sending the email,” Nelson exclusively told VegNews. “It was a lovely, heartfelt letter and I was very appreciative of it.” Nelson explained that British talk program The One Show invited the pair to discuss their differing viewpoints on air. “I thought it would send a positive message if William and I—who clearly hold very different opinions about [veganism]—can be kind to one another and talk about these issues intelligently,” Nelson said. The two met for a vegan lunch and bonded over their shared experience—which included death threats online. “I feel really positive about how things have played out,” Nelson said. “It was such a toxic and overwhelming situation for us both, and I could never, ever have imagined the reaction that this had. So I think it’s great that William and I are friendly now, and that he seems interested in working together to further explore this issue.”

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