As much as I would like to echo Mike’s sentiment of being “done with the Dilbert thing” there is still one more post for me to make – the final stats when the last Dilbert comic strip hits the newspapers.
It is possible that Adams will set up a self-syndicating system, but that is extremely doubtful. At the moment he is planning to continue the comic strip on an online subscription (behind a paywall) platform.
Following are a few thoughts.
Let’s give three cheers for the newspapers that stood up for their principles early on. Those who took the stance after the AMU syndicate dropped the strip (I’m looking at you McClatchy group, among others), not so much.
As for principles here’s The Columbian of Vancouver, Washington:
Meanwhile, our comics section for Sunday, March 5, had already been printed with “Dilbert” included. But Publisher Ben Campbell feels so strongly about the issue he has ordered those sections to be recycled. We will print a new section without “Dilbert,” [emphasis added] even if that means we just have an empty spot. He considers it money well spent.
The Columbian is not going to do business with a racist jerk.
The Columbian has been owned by the Campbell family since 1921; current president and publisher Ben Campbell is the fourth generation of the family to run the paper.
All the other newspapers will run Dilbert in the Sunday funnies that have already been printed.
While Andrews McMeel Publishing and Penguin Random House will not publish anymore Dilbert or Scott Adams books, what should they do with the thousands of books in their warehouses? Pulp them?
AMP has four dozen Dilbert books still up at their site, Penguin Random House has scrubbed Scott Adams.
And what about online and brick and mortar bookstores?
Haven’t heard any of them pulling Scott Adams off the shelves.
Stars and Stripes runs the Dilbert comic strip, today they ran a half page Associated Press story about Scott Adams. Inserted in the AP story it was noted that, “The comic appears in Stars and Stripes, but will be replaced by another strip as soon as possible.”
That may be when there is no other choice. After four years they are still running the comics survey image.
I certainly don’t plan to run all the Dilbert editorial cartoons that have appeared, but here’s a list with links.
Lalo Alcaraz and in support of Clay Jones
Clay Jones and the one that got him 30 days in the Facebook hole
R J Matson – twice (part of which is used as the featured image)
Apologies to those I missed.
Here’s a few stories that I made free to read:
Musk Claims Media Bias in Debate Over ‘Dilbert’ Creator’s Racist Rant
By Lora Kelley, Michael M. Grynbaum and Tiffany Hsu
A version of this article appears in print on Feb. 28, 2023, Section B, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Musk Calls Media Racist As ‘Dilbert’ Is Canceled.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/27/business/elon-musk-dilbert.html – free to read link
A poll asked if it’s ‘OK to be white.’ Here’s why the phrase is loaded.
Scholars raise questions about the Rasmussen poll that Scott Adams cited in the racist rant that led to ‘Dilbert’s’ cancellation
By Marisa Iati and Scott Clement
February 28, 2023
https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/02/28/rasmussen-poll-scott-adams-dilbert/ – free to read
The ‘Dilbert’ Cartoonist and the Durability of White-Flight Thinking
By Charles M. Blow
Feb. 28, 2023,
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/28/opinion/scott-adams-racism.html – free to read