I thought Mel Gibson's or Brando's rants against the Jews were bad. Holy sheet!
Newspapers Drop ‘Dilbert’ After Cartoonist Calls Black Americans ‘Hate Group’
USA Today Network, Washington Post among newspapers to stop publishing comic
Scott Adams, creator of the comic strip ‘Dilbert,’ said people had misunderstood the context of his remarks.
By Ginger Adams Otis, WSJ
Updated Feb. 25, 2023 7:54 pm ET
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, took issue with the poll results in a series of racist remarks, including a comment that white people should stay away from Black Americans.
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.
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 organization,” the statement said.
Similar statements came from the San Antonio Express-News and the Washington Post on Saturday.
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.
Write to Ginger Adams Otis at Ginger.AdamsOtis@wsj.com