“Dilbert” creator Scott Adams poses for a portrait with the Dilbert character in 2006.
Associated Press file
Almost since the beginning of the “Dilbert” comic strip in 1989, the feature that pokes fun at office workplace culture has appeared in The Republic. But you won’t see Dilbert in our funny pages anymore.
Dilbert creator Scott Adams said on YouTube recently that Black people were “a hate group” and advised white people to “get away” from them.
There is no defending such speech. We disavow anyone who espouses racist hate speech. Period.
Adams had to know he was killing the franchise that had generated his estimated net worth of $75 million by saying what he did. If he didn’t, he does now.
In this noisy, angry, boorish age, you may hear people yammering about the First Amendment, suggesting Adams is a victim of “cancel culture” or such absurdities. They are wrong. Let’s clarify a few things.
The First Amendment gives Adams the right to say anything — even the depraved, inflammatory things he did. The government is not coming for Adams over it. That is all that the First Amendment protects against: government restrictions on freedom of speech, religion and the press.
The First Amendment does not shield Adams from the consequences of his speech or from people’s reactions to it. Nor should it. After all, people who disagree with Adams have First Amendment rights too.
Like most publications, we concluded we could no longer support Adams by paying for rights to publish Dilbert. We apologize to fans who will miss it, but in our view, the creation can no longer be distinguished from its creator’s abhorrent speech.
As a counterpoint to the Dilbert debacle that illustrates the social resonance and relevance of comics, consider a story about the late Charles Schulz, creator of the beloved “Peanuts” strip.
Days after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was slain in 1968, a teacher named Harriet Glickman wrote Schulz a letter asking him to “integrate” the strip as a gesture of racial conciliation. Schulz wrote back saying he’d love to introduce a “Negro” character, in the parlance of the time, but he worried doing so would seem patronizing.
Glickman wrote back and soon Schulz and Black parents were talking. They convinced Schulz that representation mattered. From their input, the Black character Franklin Armstrong soon arrived to share space with Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy and the gang.
But predictably, Franklin’s existence enraged Southern segregationists. Schulz stood firm. He recalled he had told a doubter, “Either you print it just the way I draw it or I quit. How’s that?”
Schulz also chose to use his position of privilege to mentor and advocate for talented young Black artists. Many went on to successful careers as cartoonists and creative professionals. And the Armstrong Project — named in Franklin’s honor — continues to grant scholarships to students at historically Black colleges and universities.
Scott Adams was 9 years old when Franklin appeared. Adams is now 65. He can redeem himself, but that’s his choice. So was his speech.
