Daily Herald will drop the Dilbert comic strip after Sunday after creator's racist rant

The Daily Herald is joining newspapers across the nation in removing the "Dilbert" comic strip from their comics pages.

As The Associated Press and Washington Post reported Saturday, the creator of the comic strip, Scott Adams, defended remarks he made last Wednesday describing people who are Black as members of "a hate group" from which white people should "get away."

The Daily Herald's Sunday comics were printed in advance and could not be altered. The change will be reflected starting with Monday's editions.

Andrews McMeel Syndication, which distributes Dilbert, did not immediately respond Saturday to various media's requests for comment. Asked how many newspapers still carried the strip, a workplace satire that Adams created in 1989, he told The Washington Post, "By Monday, around zero."

And Adams defended himself on social media against those whom he said "hate me and are canceling me," The Associated Press reported.

Dilbert is a long-running comic that pokes fun at office-place culture.

The backlash began after an episode this past week of the YouTube show "Real Coffee with Scott Adams." Among other topics, Adams referenced a survey from the conservative Rasmussen Reports that had asked whether people agreed with the statement "It's OK to be white."

Most of the Black people responding, 53%, agreed, but 26% of them respondents disagreed and 21% weren't sure.

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

Adams, who is white, repeatedly referred to people who are Black as members of a "hate group" or a "racist hate group" and said he would no longer "help Black Americans."

"I don't want to have anything to do with them. And I would say, 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," Adams said on his Wednesday show.

Adams also blamed Black people for not "focusing on education" during the show and said, "I'm also really sick of seeing video after video of Black Americans beating up non-Black citizens," The Washington Post reported.

In another episode of his online show Saturday, Adams said he had been making a point that "everyone should be treated as an individual" without discrimination, The Associated Press reported.

"But you should also avoid any group that doesn't respect you, even if there are people within the group who are fine," Adams said.

The Los Angeles Times cited Adams' "racist comments" while announcing Saturday that Dilbert will be discontinued Monday in most editions and that its final run in the Sunday comics - which are printed in advance - will be March 12, the AP reported.

The San Antonio Express-News, which is part of Hearst Newspapers, said Saturday that it will drop the Dilbert comic strip, effective Monday, "because of hateful and discriminatory public comments by its creator."

The USA Today Network tweeted Friday that it also will stop publishing Dilbert "due to recent discriminatory comments by its creator."

The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and other publications that are part of Advance Local media also announced that they are dropping Dilbert.

"This is a decision 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 espouse racism. We certainly do not want to provide them with 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 those ideas cross into hate speech, a line must be drawn," Kelly wrote.