Scott Adams, creator of the comic “Dilbert,” said it’s “hilarious,” how White people canceled him for his racist YouTube rant about Black people. On March 6, Adams appeared in a nearly 33-minute interview with Chris Cuomo on NewsNation to discuss a video where he seemingly told White people to “get the hell away from Black people.” While Adams addressed the outrage surrounding his rant, he didn’t shy away from the comments he made either and appeared to make several more controversial statements.
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During the lengthy conversation with Cuomo, Adams started off by stating he was not racist and believed that it would be “stupid,” to “judge people anyway other than individually.” Instead, he described his comments as “hyperbole,” and said he was attempting to “attract attention,” to have a “productive argument,” on race relations — which he believes are “terrible,” in the United States. Adams also said that the response to his rant “got bigger than he expected,” and turned into “global cancellation.” However, during his explanation of his comments, Adams remarked the most “hilarious thing,” that has come from the backlash surrounding his statements is the fact that it has been “almost entirely” White people who have canceled him. He says that he believes that is likely a result of White ownership of newspapers and publishing companies. Adams added that any Black Americans he’s spoken to are fine with his comments once they know the context surrounding his speech.
“Chris, the thing your audience doesn’t know, which is the hilarious thing that came out of this, is that It’s almost entirely white people that canceled me — it might be entirely because they’re the ones that own the publishing companies and the newspapers,” Adams told Cuomo. “So far every black person I’ve talked to, and of course, a lot of people contacted me, said, ‘Hey what’s going on,’ and I said, ‘Look at the context,’ and they say, ‘I get what you’re saying, it was kind of alarming when I first heard it,’ so, Black America is actually completely fine, both Conservative and liberal, if they see the context.”
Adams also explained that his comments were based on a Rasmussen poll taken that cited 26 percent of Black Americans had disagreed with the statement, “It’s okay to be white,” which he believe to be an “alarming” percentage. Despite basing his argument on the poll, Adams says the conversation wasn’t about data but instead about an increase in “anti-whiteness bias,” on social media, in the corporate business world, and in government.
BLACK AMERICANS ONLY:
“It’s okay to be white.”
53% agree, 26% disagree, 21% not sure“Black people can be racist, too”
76% of agree, 27% disagree, 8% not sure. https://t.co/5pYBvT00qn— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) February 22, 2023
When Cuomo pressured Adams for even citing Rasmussen’s poll for his argument, in addition to taking accountability for making statements he knew would cause controversy, the author appeared to unapologetically claim no wrongdoing and instead advocated for his own use of free speech.
“White America kind of acts like you [Cuomo] ‘Let’s talk about this poll, why did you say the poll, why did you say the thing,’ I just said, the poll wasn’t important it was just a jumping off point, and you shouldn’t take any of the hyperbole seriously,” Adams said in part. “It was meant to get people riled up, I just misjudged how much. Now in terms of the accountability, I got canceled globally, have I complained? That’s accountability. I haven’t complained once, I’ve simply described it. I did some things, I triggered a series of events — other people have to be responsible for their roles but I am fully responsible for mine. So if global cancellation is my price for free speech, it was worth it.”
Adams added, “I’m probably the only White man in America that has free speech today because I can say whatever the hell I want and not get further canceled.”
Adams went on to describe his experience throughout this situation as an “insanely, weirdly good,” one and says Black people are inviting him to “the barbecue,” to talk it out.
Since his racist comments went viral, Adams’ comic “Dilbert,” was dropped by 77 newspapers including The Washington Post and The LA Times. His publisher, Penguin Random House, also cut their ties with the author. Adams is worth an estimated $75 million from his work on the comic, which has been in circulation since 1989.
Watch the interview in full below.