Hundreds of Newspapers Drop ‘Dilbert’ Following Cartoonist’s ‘Racist Rant’
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Hundreds of newspapers — including the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and the entire USA Today network — have dropped the syndicated comic Dilbert following racist remarks made by the strip’s cartoonist Scott Adams.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer were among the first to drop the office place-based comic Saturday, with editor Chris Quinn writing in a letter to readers, “Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip, went on a racist rant this week on his Coffee with Scott Adams online video show, and we will no longer carry his comic strip in The Plain Dealer. This is not a difficult decision.”
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Quinn continued, “Adams said Black people are a hate group, citing a recent Rasmussen survey which, he said, shows nearly half of all Black people do not agree with the phrase ‘It’s okay to be white. ‘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,’ he says in the video.”
Soon after, hundreds of newspaper announced they would also drop Dilbert from their comics pages. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution informed readers Sunday, “Adams’ racist comments are incompatible with the AJC’s values and undermine our mission to make Atlanta and the world a better place by serving our community through fact-based news and information and insightful opinion.”
A spokeswoman for the New York Times added Sunday, “We have decided to no longer publish the ‘Dilbert’ comic strip in our international print edition following racist comments by Scott Adams. The comic’s publication was limited to our international print edition and did not publish in our U.S. edition or online.”
On Sunday night, Adams’ distributor Andrews McMeel Universal cut ties with him as well, and by Monday, Feb. 27, Dilbert was no longer available on GoComics.com. “We are proud to promote and share many different voices and perspectives. But we will never support any commentary rooted in discrimination or hate,” the Andrews McMeel statement read.
On Twitter Monday, Adams said Dilbert defended his comments as “hyperbole.” He also said he would continue to publish Dilbert on his subscription site.
Dilbert will also be removed from the entire USA Today network, which published over 200 newspapers nationwide. Other newspapers parting ways with Dilbert include The Boston Globe, The San Antonio Express-News and the Michigan-based MLive Media Group.
At @Gannett, we lead with inclusion and strive to maintain a respectful and equitable environment for the diverse communities we serve nationwide. #TeamGannett pic.twitter.com/GvHR1w9ae3
— USA TODAY NETWORK PR (@USATODAY_PR) February 24, 2023
The Oregonian editor Therese Bottomly wrote in a letter to readers Saturday, “I made the decision after watching Adams’ nearly hourlong diatribe on his YouTube show ‘Real Coffee with Scott Adams,’ which included such exhortations as, ‘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.’ Typically, I like to fully explain our decisions to readers but much of what he said is too patently offensive. I won’t repeat his comments here.”
Bottomly added, “Some readers no doubt will deride my decision as an example of overly ‘woke’ culture or as a knee-jerk ‘politically correct’ response. What about free speech, they might ask? Isn’t this censorship? No one is taking Adams’ free speech rights away. He is free to share his abhorrent comments on YouTube and Twitter so long as those companies allow them.”
This isn’t Adams’ first brush with cancellation en masse: In 2022, over 75 newspapers dropped Dilbert after Adams — an avid supporter of former president Donald Trump — introduced the strip’s first-ever Black character, which he then used as a prop to deride “wokeness” and having the character identify as white and LGBTQ+ for work purposes.
Adams has taken his latest cancellation in stride, spending much of Sunday morning doubling down on his comments on social media. “Has anyone else been canceled while literally no one disagreed with them?” he tweeted Sunday. “My critics don’t disagree with my advice (seen in context). They are justifiably angry that it is rational. I am too.”
This story was updated 2/27/23 at 3:52 p.m. ET with news of Dilbert‘s distributor cutting ties with Adams as well.
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