The fallout continues for “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams following his racist rant last week where he called Black people “a hate group.”
Now outspoken MSNBC host Joy Reid has elevated the firestorm as Adams’ reach continues to shrink.
“I had no idea who the guy was until he went on a racist rant on YouTube last Wednesday,” Reid said Monday evening on her “The ReidOut” program.
Adams, 65, a longtime cartoonist, landed himself in controversy when he made the proclamation in a video blog on Feb. 22.
“If nearly half of all Blacks are not OK with white people, that’s a hate group,” Adams said throughout his 13-minute rant.
He was reacting to a conservative-leaning Rasmussen poll which asked, “Do you agree or disagree, it’s OK to be white.”
Reid ripped apart the pollster as well during her monologue.
“Why would a poll even ask that? Oh, because it’s Rasmussen, of course, the agenda-driven conspiracy-theory-boosting pollster who loves to stir the pot in the culture war,” Reid said.
“The phrase ‘it’s OK to be white,’ by the way, has been labeled a hate slogan by the Anti-Defamation League, a slogan popularized as a trolling campaign by members of 4Chan,” Reid continued.
While the credibility of the polling is in question, it claimed 53 percent of Black Americans agreed “it’s OK to be white.” Adams focused his energy on the remaining 47 percent of Black people allegedly polled and were either unsure or disagreed with the statement “it’s okay to be white.”
“I don’t want to have anything to do with them. And I would say, based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people…because there is not fixing this,” Adams said.
“How will Black folk ever survive without you, whoever you are,” Reid replied.
Since Adams’ viral rant, he was dropped by several newspapers across the country that ran his once-popular comic strip. He has taken to his YouTube channel where he said his initial controversial comments to respond to his backlash.
“They made a business decision, which I don’t consider anything like censorship,” referring to being canceled by media outlets.
“Scott did you say something super racist the other day,” Adams asked in response to the online backlash. “Yes…Of course, it is, that’s the definition of racist. What’s the problem with that?” Adams replied.
Adams said his Dilbert comic is now only available on his online subscription service. Despite the business hit, Adams still stands by his claims.
Reid concluded her nearly three-minute lambast putting Adams’ racist comments into broader context.
“This cartoon creator becoming the voice for the great white male freakout doesn’t end at Dilbert or even Elon Musk. It ends or rather begins with white grievance politics potentially becoming U.S. federal policy,” Reid said.
