US papers drop 'Dilbert' comic after creator calls Black people a 'hate group'

The creator, Scott Adams, was widely rebuked for his comments by newspapers that had printed his work for years

Hundreds of newspapers across the United States will stop running the “Dilbert” comic strip after its creator said on a YouTube livestream that Black people were “a hate group” and that white people should “just get the hell away” from them.

The creator, Scott Adams, who was behind the widely syndicated comic strip that mocks office culture, was widely rebuked for his comments by newspapers that had printed his work for years.

The USA Today Network, which publishes more than 200 newspapers, said it “will no longer publish the ‘Dilbert’ comic due to the recent discriminatory comments by its creator.”

The Los Angeles Times said Saturday that it would end publication of the comic strip because of his racist comments. And the editor of The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Chris Quinn, said Adams went on a “racist rant” that had prompted the newspaper to also drop “Dilbert.”

“This is not a difficult decision,” Quinn said.

Other newspapers that said they would discontinue the comic strip include The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The San Antonio Express-News and MLive Media Group, which has eight news publications in Michigan.

Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokesperson for The New York Times, said, “We have decided to no longer publish the ‘Dilbert’ comic strip in our international print edition following racist comments by Scott Adams.” The comic appeared only in the international print edition and not in The Times’ US edition or online, she said.

Adams declined to be interviewed and said in a text on Saturday that “everything you need to hear” was on YouTube.

In that show on Saturday, he defended his remarks. He said that he was wrongly being canceled, that “you should absolutely be racist whenever it’s to your advantage” and that any change in society is a “racist change,” including changing the tax codes.

He also appeared to be reckoning with the rapid fallout, saying that “most of my income will be gone by next week” and that “my reputation for the rest of my life is destroyed.”

Andrews McMeel Syndication, the company that syndicates “Dilbert,” did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Saturday night.