The Plain Dealer will no longer carry the “Dilbert” comic strip, according to an 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 have been widely criticized as racist.
Chris Quinn, editor of The Plain Dealer, said Friday that “reprehensible” comments by Adams—who called Black Americans a “hate group” in a recent video—and a string of “mostly hateful and racist” statements caused the newspaper to cut the strip.
Adams, who regularly posts his podcast “Coffee with Scott Adams” on YouTube, said Wednesday that white Americans should “get the hell away from Black people” and cited a Rasmussen survey indicating 53% of Black people agree with the phrase “It’s OK to be white”—which has been labeled a hate slogan.
Quinn notes The Plain Dealer is a subsidiary of Advance Local, which owns news outlets in Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Alabama, Massachusetts and Oregon, which have all also decided to stop running the strip.
The comic strip has already been cut from 77 other newspapers owned by the publisher Lee Enterprises, according to The Daily Beast.
In an announcement Friday, USA Today said it would no longer publish the comic “due to recent discriminatory comments” by Adams.
The San Francisco Chronicle, which dropped the comic in October 2022, added that its parent company Hearst Communications had decided to cut the strip from its newspapers.
Quinn said a 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 do not want to provide them with financial support.”
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