\u201cDilbert\u201d creator Scott Adams continued to see his reach shrink Monday as dozens of newspapers and a major comic strip platform said they would no longer publish his long-running office workplace comic strip over his recent racist remarks.<\/p>\n
Newspaper readers around the country were greeted by notes from publishers — and, in at least one instance, a blank space \u2014 alerting them to outlets\u2019 decision to stop running the popular comic. Adams\u2019 fate was effectively sealed Sunday evening when \u201cDilbert\u201d distributor Andrews McMeel Universal said it was severing ties to the cartoonist. By Monday morning, \u201cDilbert\u201d was gone from the GoComics site, which also features many top comic strips like \u201cPeanuts\u201d and \u201cCalvin and Hobbes.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a Feb. 22 episode of his YouTube show, Adams described people who are Black as members of \u201ca hate group\u201d from which white people should \u201cget away.\u201d Various media publishers across the U.S. denounced the comments as racist, hateful and discriminatory while saying they would no longer provide a platform for his work.<\/p>\n
Readers of The Sun Chronicle in Attleboro, Massachusetts, found a blank space in Monday\u2019s edition where \u201cDilbert\u201d would normally run. The paper said it would keep the space blank throughout March \u201cas a reminder of the racism the pervades our society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Newspapers ranging from the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post to smaller papers like the the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette have also said they would cease to publish \u201cDilbert.\u201d The strip, which lampoons office culture, first appeared in 1989.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a decision based on the principles of this news organization and the community we serve,\u201d Cleveland Plain Dealer Editor Chris Quinn wrote. \u201dWe are not a home for those who espouse racism. We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Andrews McMeel Universal statement said the distributor supports free speech, but Adams\u2019 comments were not compatible with the core values of the company based in Kansas City, Missouri. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are proud to promote and share many different voices and perspectives. But we will never support any commentary rooted in discrimination or hate,\u201d the statement jointly signed by the chair and CEO said.<\/p>\n
While Adams\u2019 strips are no longer on GoComics, he maintains an extensive archive on his own website. In a YouTube episode released Monday, Scott Adams said that new \u201cDilbert\u201d strips will only be available on his subscription service on the Locals platform.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey made a business decision, which I don\u2019t consider anything like censorship,\u201d he said of Andrews McMeel Universal, adding that his comments about Black people were hyperbole.<\/p>\n
Adams had previously defended himself on social media against those whom he said \u201chate me and are canceling me.\u201d He also drew support from Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who tweeted that the media previously \u201cwas racist against non-white people, now they\u2019re racist against whites & Asians.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the Feb. 22 episode of \u201cReal Coffee with Scott Adams,\u201d he referenced a Rasmussen Reports survey that had asked whether people agreed with the statement \u201cIt\u2019s OK to be white.\u201d Most agreed, but Adams noted that 26% of Black respondents disagreed and others weren\u2019t sure.<\/p>\n
The Anti-Defamation League says the phrase at the center of the question was popularized as a trolling campaign by members of 4chan — an anonymous and notorious message board \u2014 and began being used by some white supremacists. Rasmussen Reports is a conservative polling firm has used its Twitter account to endorse false and misleading claims about COVID-19 vaccines, elections and the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.<\/p>\n
Adams, who is white, repeatedly referred to people who are Black as members of a \u201chate group\u201d or a \u201cracist hate group\u201d and said he would no longer \u201chelp Black Americans.\u201d <\/p>\n
In another episode of his online show Saturday, Adams said he had been making a point that \u201ceveryone should be treated as an individual\u201d without discrimination.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you should also avoid any group that doesn\u2019t respect you, even if there are people within the group who are fine,\u201d Adams said. <\/p>\n
Christopher Kelly, vice president of content for NJ Advance Media, wrote that the news organization believes in \u201cthe free and fair exchange of ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when those ideas cross into hate speech, a line must be drawn,\u201d Kelly wrote.<\/p>\n