Topline
The ordinary merchant will no longer air the “Dilbert” comic, according to a announcement by the Cleveland newspaper, citing a recent “racist rant” by Scott Adams – who created the comic strip – while joining an effort by other newspapers to cut the strip after Adams made comments that were widely criticized as racist.
Dilbert, a comic created by Scott Adams, was cut by newspapers because of a “racist rant”.
Highlights
Chris Quinn, editor of The ordinary merchant, said On Friday, Adams’ “reprehensible” comments, which called Black Americans a ‘hate group’ in a recent video – and a series of ‘mostly hateful and racist’ statements prompted the newspaper to cut the tape.
Adams, who regularly posts his “Coffee with Scott Adams” podcast on YouTube, said Wednesday that white Americans should “run away from black hell” and cited a Rasmussen survey indicating that 53% of black people agree with the sentence “It’s OK to be white” – which was tagged a hateful slogan.
Quinn’s Notes The ordinary merchant is a subsidiary of Advance Local, which has news outlets in Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Alabama, Massachusetts and Oregon, all of which have also decided to stop carrying the strip.
The comic has already been cut from 77 other newspapers owned by publisher Lee Enterprises, according to The Daily Beast.
In a announcement On Friday, USA Today said it would no longer publish the comic “due to recent discriminatory comments” by Adams.
THE San Francisco Chroniclewho dropped out of comics in October 2022, added that its parent company Hearst Communications had decided to cut the tape from its logs.
crucial quote
Quinn said the decision to stop running “Dilbert” is “based on the principles of this news organization and the community we serve,” adding “we are not a home for those who espouse racism” and “We certainly don’t want to provide them with financial support.
Surprising fact
“Dilbert” was recreated as an animated primetime television series in the late 1990s, although it was canceled after two seasons and 30 episodes. Adam said in June 2020, he “lost my TV show for being white when UPN decided it would focus on an African-American audience”, stating that it was the “third job I lost for being white” . Two years later, Adams tweeted that he would “identify as a black woman until Biden chooses his Supreme Court nominee.”
Key context
“Dilbert” was created by Adams in 1989 and is judge by publisher Andrews McMeel Syndication as “the most photocopied, pinned, downloaded, faxed and emailed comic book in the world”. The comic appeared in approximately 2,000 newspapers in 65 countries and 25 languages. Adams has been sentenced for comments criticized as racist in recent years, including comments that some of his projects were canceled because he is white. Previously, Adams has been criticized for ask survivors and witnesses of a 2019 mass shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California to sign up for an app he helped create. Andrews McMeel did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.
Further reading
The Bay Area cartoonist who created Dilbert goes on a racist rant and condemns (San Francisco Chronicle)
We’re ditching the Dilbert comic because of creator Scott Adams’ racist rant (The ordinary merchant)