Today is Tuesday, February 28, 2023, the last day in February. This is the last day of Black History Month and in light of the observation, there is the story of “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams who was literally canceled by various newspapers and other media carrying his comic strip on corporate culture because of his ranting on his YouTube channel last week about Black people being a hate group and that white people should avoid them whenever possible. How could anyone in good conscience not label the cartoonist’s comments as overtly racist? The white cartoonist actually said on his channel, “Based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people.” He also labeled Black people as members of a “hate group.”

This sad story appeared in newspapers the other day, especially in my hometown paper, the Daily News which issued an editorial promptly after Adams’ strip being dropped addressing the issue and why it canceled Adams’ comic strip. Of course, red hat repugnicans are already calling this firing foul and blaming the media for being overly “woke.”

This new wrinkle in the cartoonist’s career was brought to us by CNN Business on my smartphone in an article written yesterday by Oliver Darcy entitled “Hundreds of newspapers drop “Dilbert” comic strip after racist tirade from creator Scott Adams.”

Some of the outlets dropping Adams include the USA Today Network, which operates hundreds of newspapers, The Washington Post, and The Plain Dealer in Cleveland.

This measure was taken after the “Dilbert” creator went on a rant on YouTube in which he referred to a poll from the conservative firm Rasmussen Reports that printed a survey in which 53 percent of Black Americans agreed with the statement, “It’s OK to be white.” This question, to me, is ridiculous in the first place, so why would this obviously intelligent white man seize on it to justify his comments on fostering all-out segregation of the races in 2023. Supposedly, only 26 percent of Black people did not agree with the statement, which fueled Adams’ racial rant. He inaccurately thought 26 percent represented fifty percent of Black Americans.

What is also suspicious about this poll is that, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the phrase at the center of the question was popularized as a trolling campaign by members of 4chan – a notorious anonymous message board – and was adopted by some white supremacists. Rasmussen Reports is a conservative polling firm that has used its Twitter account to endorse false and misleading claims about COVID-19 vaccines, elections, and the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. So Adams referencing this questionable poll is just a signal as to what kind of person Adams is truly is. Adams has been associated with extreme-right ideologies and conspiracy theories for some time now. Adams, actually, heaped praise on Donald Dumpf in the 2016 presidential election.

In response to his firing, Adams went on Twitter to say that he was only “advising people to avoid hate” and suggested the cancellation of his cartoon signals that free speech in America is under assault. The newspapers that cut the comic strip have been clear with readers in that they strongly assert that Adams went on a racist rant this week and needed to be “fired.”

Chris Quinn, editor of The Plain Dealer, wrote this about dropping the comic strip: “This is not a difficult decision.” Quinn added, “We are not a home for those who espouse racism.” He added, “We certainly do not want to provide them with financial support.”

For those who don’t read the comic strip that Adams drew, “Dilbert” is set in a dystopian office where the titular character is tormented by a stupid boss and a talking dog. At its peak, the strip appeared in more than 2,000 newspapers, where Adams won the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award in 1998 and spawning a television show that aired on UPN from 1999 to 2000.

Earlier examples of Adams’ weird comments came in June 2020 after his show was canceled in which he asserted it was terminated because he’s white, adding that it “was the third job I lost for being White.” He tweeted in January 2022 that he planned to “self-identify as a Black woman.” He has even suggested that Americans were brainwashed into supporting Ukraine and praised antivaccine advocates last month. This guy really does have far-right opinions without question.

Last May, Adams used his strip to mock workplace diversity and transgender politics through a new character called Dave the Black Engineer.

Accurately identifying what went wrong with the comic strip in recent years, Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, editor in chief of the Chronicle, and a former managing editor at The Post, told the Times Union, “His strip went from being hilarious to being hurtful and mean.” He added, “Very few readers noticed when we killed it, and we only had a handful of complaints.”

All I can say about this brouhaha is that I just found “Dilbert” very unfunny since I’m an avid reader of the “funny pages” in the Daily News. So I won’t miss it at all if it fails to be printed again.

Do you think this was an overreaction by media companies to Adams’ tirade on YouTube? Should he have just gotten a reprimand or been given a second chance to redeem himself? What do you think?

Stay safe and be well.