‘Dilbert’ dumped over cartoonist Scott Adam’s ‘Black Americans hate group’ remark

The long-running comic strip was cancelled after cartoonist Scott Adams called Black Americans a ‘hate group’ in an online post.

Scott Adams, creator of the comic strip Dilbert, is accused of racism. Picture: AP.

Multiple newspapers around the U.S. dropped Scott Adams’s long-running “Dilbert” comic strip after the cartoonist called Black Americans a “hate group” in a racist rant he posted online.

The USA Today Network, which includes hundreds of newspapers, Cleveland’s Plain Dealer, the San Antonio Express-News, the Washington Post and other publications all said they would stop publishing “Dilbert, ” which has poked fun at corporate drudgery for decades.

Mr. Adams, 65 years old, on Saturday declined to comment and said he isn’t doing interviews.

The former financial manager turned cartoonist made his comments on Wednesday in response to a Rasmussen Poll that said a small majority of Black Americans agreed with the statement “It’s OK to be white.” Mr. Adams, in one of his regular talks he records and posts online, said, among other things, that white people should stay away from Black Americans.

“If nearly half of all Blacks are not OK with white people … that’s a hate group,” Mr. Adams said at one point in the video. “I don’t want to have anything to do with them. And I would say, based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people … because there is no fixing this.” Soon thereafter, newspapers began announcing they were dropping “Dilbert.” On Friday, Chris Quinn, the vice president of content for Advance Ohio, which publishes the Plain Dealer, said the decision wasn’t difficult.

“We are not a home for those who espouse racism. We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support,” Mr. Quinn wrote in a letter from the editor.

Dilbert is a long-running cartoon poking fun at corporate dullness.

Gannett Co. also said that the USA Today Network, which includes more than 200 newspapers, had dropped the strip.

“Recent discriminatory comments by the creator, Scott Adams, have influenced our decision to discontinue publishing his comic. While we respect and encourage free speech, his views do not align with our editorial or business values as an organisation,” the statement said.

Similar statements came from the San Antonio Express-News, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times on Saturday.

“The comics pages should be a place where our readers can engage with societal issues, reflect on the human condition, and enjoy a few laughs. We intend to maintain that tradition in a way that is welcoming to all readers,” the L.A. Times said.

Mr. Adams, in subsequent talks shared on his website and YouTube channel and comments on Twitter, addressed the outrage several times. In a post on Friday, he called the U.S. “a thoroughly racist society” and said people had misunderstood the context of his remarks.

“I’m accepting criticism from anyone who has seen the full context here. The rest of you are in a fake news bubble but I trust you suspected that, ” he posted on Twitter Sunday. He included a link to a YouTube interview he did on Saturday about his remarks.

Dow Jones