‘Dilbert’ comic strip dropped by its syndicator over cartoonist Scott Adams’ comments on race

“Dilbert” comic strip creator Scott Adams has been dropped by Andrews McMeel Universal, the distributor that long syndicated the strip, in perhaps the biggest repercussion of his comments last week describing people who are Black as members of “a hate group” from which white people should “get away.”

Hugh Andrews, Andrews McMeel’s chairman, and Andy Sareyan, its president and chief executive officer, said the syndication company was “severing our relationship” with the cartoonist.

Adams’ statements in two episodes last week of his streaming YouTube show already had prompted publishers across the United States, including the Chicago Tribune, to denounce the comments as racist, hateful and discriminatory and to drop “Dilbert.”

The Tribune ran a blank space Monday in the spot at the top of a comics page where the strip previously ran and said it plans to run another comic strip in its place.

Andrews and Sareyan said Andrews McMeel supports free speech but that Adams’ comments aren’t compatible with the values of the company, which is based in Kansas City, Missouri.

“We are proud to promote and share many different voices and perspectives,” they said on the company’s website and on Twitter. “But we will never support any commentary rooted in discrimination or hate.”

“Dilbert” already had been dropped by several newspapers and chains.

The creator of the long-running comic poking fun at office and workplace culture defended himself on social media against those he said “hate me and are canceling me.”

The backlash against Adams followed his comments on “Real Coffee with Scott Adams.” Among other topics, Adams used his YouTube show to mention a Rasmussen Reports survey that had asked whether people agreed with the statement “It’s OK to be white.” Most of those responding agreed, according to the pollsters. But Adams noted that 26% of Black respondents disagreed and that others weren’t sure.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, the phrase was popularized in 2017 as a trolling campaign by members of the discussion forum 4chan and then began being used by some white supremacists.

Adams, who is white, repeatedly referred to people who are Black as members of a “hate group” or a “racist hate group” and said he would no longer “help Black Americans.”

“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,” Adams said on the show Wednesday.

In another episode of his online show Saturday, Adams said he had been making a point that “everyone should be treated as an individual” without discrimination.

“But you should also avoid any group that doesn’t respect you even if there are people within the group who are fine,” Adams said.

Adams found support from Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who defended the cartoonist in posts on the platform, saying the news media previously “was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians.”