United States | Misleading polls

Scott Adams’s racist comments were spurred by a badly worded poll

The firm has turned to polling the right-wing culture war for clicks

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, works on his comic strip in his studio in in Dublin, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 26, 2006. Adams, 49, appears to be a rare example of someone who has largely but not totally, recovered from Spasmodic Dysphonia, a mysterious disease in which parts of the brain controlling speech shut down or go haywire. As many as 30,000 Americans are afflicted, typically in their 40s and 50s, experts say. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) — Image: AP

Mar 2nd 2023|Washington, DC

DILBERT AND Dogbert, a cartoon office worker and his canine companion, have been staples of the American funny pages for three decades. The comic originated as a satire of the white-collar office, and poked fun at mismanaging bosses and time-wasting meetings. But in recent years Scott Adams, the creator of the oddly shaped bespectacled office worker, has drawn strips on corporate diversity quotas and whether people should be able to choose their pronouns. On February 22nd Mr Adams appeared in a YouTube live-stream in which he called black Americans a hate group and advised white people to “get the hell away” from them. The partner publications of “Dilbert” quickly condemned Mr Adams and announced they would stop publishing the comic.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Misleading polls”