For a few weeks, a Massachusetts newspaper is leaving a blank space where Dilbert would have gone. That’s the Sun Chronicle’s way of telling people to think about race relations after cartoonist Scott Adams described Black people as members of a hate group and said white people should stay away from them. The Los Angeles Times dropped the Monday through Saturday Dilbert strips this week, but two more Sunday strips—already printed—will go out.
In all Shaw newspapers–which include The Times (Ottawa), the News-Tribune (LaSalle), and the Daily Herald (Morris)–Dilbert is replaced by Herb and Jamaal. Its first appearance today carries a message about race relations. Managing Editor Dennis Anderson says that was a coincidence. He says it’s something for everyone to think about though.
Anderson says Adams’s comments aren’t things his company condones, so Dilbert had to go. Similar sentiments have come from other newspaper editors across the country.
Adams says his comments about Black people were hyperbole. The company that distributed his comic strip severed its relationship with him Sunday night. Adams is offering Dilbert via subscription on his website.