Dilbert distributor cuts ties with creator over racing remarks

Dilbert comics creator Scott Adams experienced perhaps the biggest impact of his recent race comments when distributor Andrews McMeel Universal announced on Sunday that he would no longer work with the cartoonist.

Andrews McMeel Chairman Hugh Andrews and CEO and President Andy Sareyan said in a joint statement that the syndication company has “cut off our relationship” with Adams.

On the February 22 episode of his YouTube show, Adams described black people as members of a “hate group” that white people should “get away from”. Various media publishers in the US condemned the comments as racist, hateful and discriminatory, saying they would no longer serve as a platform for his work.

Andrews and Sareyan said Andrews McMeel supports free speech, but the cartoonist’s comments are inconsistent with the core values ​​of the Kansas City, Missouri-based company. “We take pride in promoting and sharing different opinions and points of view. But we will never support comments based on discrimination or hate,” reads a statement posted on the company’s website and on Twitter.

The creator of a long-running comic that satirizes office culture has defended himself on social media against those who, he says, “hate me and cancel me.”

The backlash against Adams came after the comments on “Real Coffee with Scott Adams”. Among other topics, Adams used the YouTube show to refer to a Rasmussen Reports poll that asked if people agreed with the statement, “It’s okay to be white.”

Most agreed, but Adams noted that 26% of black respondents disagreed and others were unsure.

The Anti-Defamation League says the phrase was popularized in 2017 as a trolling campaign by members of the 4chan discussion forum, but then began to be used by some white supremacists.

White Adams repeatedly referred to blacks as members of a “hate group” or “racist hate group” and said he would no longer “help black Americans.”

The story goes on

“Based on the way things are going at the moment, the best advice I would give to white people is to stay away from black people,” Adams said on his show on Wednesday.

On another episode of his Saturday online show, Adams said he emphasized that “everyone should be treated as an individual” without discrimination.

“But you should also avoid any group that doesn’t respect you, even if there are people in the group who are okay,” Adams said.

By the time of the announcement from its distributor, Dilbert had already been abandoned by several media outlets.

“We have decided to no longer publish the Dilbert comic in our international print publication following Scott Adams’ racist comments,” said Danielle Rhodes Ha, spokeswoman for The New York Times, who said Dilbert was published in the international print publication, but not in American edition, or on the Internet.

The Washington Post said it would cease publication of Dilbert in light of “recent statements by Scott Adams promoting segregation”, although the strip could not be prevented from appearing in some future prints.

The Los Angeles Times cited Adams’ “racist comments” by announcing on Saturday that Dilbert would be discontinued on Monday for most issues and that its final issue in pre-printed Sunday comics would be on March 12.

The San Antonio Express-News, part of Hearst Newspapers, said Saturday that it will be pulling out of the Dilbert comic starting Monday “due to hateful and discriminatory public comments by its creator.”

USA Network Today tweeted on Friday that he would also stop posting Dilbert “due to his creator’s recent discriminatory comments.”

The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and other outlets affiliated with Advance Local media also announced they were dropping Dilbert.

“This decision is based on the principles of this news organization and the community we serve,” wrote Chris Quinn, editor of The Plain Dealer. “We are not a home for those who support racism. We certainly don’t want to give them financial support.”

Christopher Kelly, vice president of content for NJ Advance Media, wrote that the news organization believes in “the free and fair exchange of ideas.”

“But when these ideas turn into hate speech, the line needs to be drawn,” Kelly wrote.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk defended Adams in posts on the platform, saying that the media previously “was racist against non-white people, now it’s racist against whites and Asians.”

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