'Dilbert' Comic Strip Dropped After Creator’s Racist Rant
Scores of mainstream media publications have dropped Dilbert after the comic strip’s creator went on a racist rant Wednesday (Feb. 22), calling African Americans a hate group and suggesting that Whites avoid them.
Scott Adams’ remarks came in response to a conservative organization's poll that found that many African Americans do not think it's OK to be white, according to Reuters.
"If nearly half of all Blacks are not OK with white people ... that's a hate group," Adams, 65, said on his YouTube channel on Wednesday, the report notes. "And I don't want to have anything to do with them."
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The Washington Post and Gannett, the parent company of hundreds of newspapers nationwide, including USA Today, are among the publications that have canceled the comic.
Adams’ rant was a response to a poll made by conservative enterprise Rasmussen Reports that found 53% of Black Americans concur with the statement, “It’s OK to be White.”
But Adams noted that 26% of Black respondents disagreed and others weren’t sure, the Associated Press reports.
CNN notes that the Anti-Defamation League says the phrase first appeared on the message board 4chan in 2017 as a “trolling campaign” and has an extensive history within the confines of white supremacist-related developments. Adams appeared to agree with the campaign in his podcast.
“I don’t want to have anything to do with them,” Adams said. “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, just get the f--k away … because there is no fixing this.”
Newspaper editors are not having a difficult time explaining to its readers why they made the decision to cut ties with Adams.
“We are not a home for those who espouse racism,” Chris Quinn, editor of The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio, said in a statement, “This is not a difficult decision…We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support.”
For his part, Adams is not backing down, tweeting, “Has anyone else been canceled while literally no one disagreed with them?”
In a separate Twitter post, Adams responded to the reaction to his rant by inviting people to watch his daily YouTube show, posting a facetious remark.
“What will I do with all the power the media is handing me this week? Should I use it for good,” Adams said.