‘Dilbert’ creator Scott Adams believes he’s still on the cookout invite list that he likely was never a part of to begin with.
Popular illustrator and self-help guru Scott Adams defended telling white people to “get the hell away from Black people” on his web program last month, saying his words were taken out of context.
The author said he understood that his comments on the Feb. 22 episode of “Real Coffee With Scott Adams” would be controversial and meant for them to trigger discussion — but did not expect them to get him canceled.
On Monday, March 6, Adams appeared on “CUOMO” on NewsNation to address the recent polarizing comments about race. He claimed his core audience understood that he was probing for conversation but that the larger community missed his message and squarely framed his statements with race-baiting.
The reason the self-proclaimed thought leader took a while to explain himself, he said, was because he was waiting for the right time to reframe his argument and let some of the noise around his comments “dissipate.”
He said while he actually expressed that whites should not be around Black people, he really meant that no one should be around anyone that makes them feel bad and that many Black people make white people feel bad by always looking back at the horrific wrongs committed by their ancestors.
He even indicated that Blacks could ascend higher in white America if they stopped bringing up the past and coasted on the current climate of diversity and inclusion — clearing the path for success for African-Americans.
According to Adams, the main people pushing a race narrative and the most outraged over his comments, which he says were said as “hyperbole,” were liberal whites and the media.
“I intentionally courted controversy,” Adams said about his “get away from Black people” statement and explained that that would be impossible to do.
He then continued to share this kind of dialogue he does “often” during his live streams.
“I was trying to attract attention so that I could have a productive argument,” said Adams.
He also told host Chris Cuomo that if some of the gaslighting whites and media talking heads deconstructed what he was really saying, they would have realized the actual context and moved forward to a solution to understanding.
Cuomo challenged his guest, saying that he knew that his words would be taken out of context. He later told Adams he should have done a “huge disclaimer that says ‘I’m about to say something that’s going to rile people up.’ ”
In the February video, Adams said Black Americans were a “hate group.” He quoted a Rasmussen poll that said 53 percent of Black Americans took issue with the statement “It’s OK to be white.” He also said he went to a neighborhood with a very low Black population to live, resolving that “it does not make sense to want to help Black citizens anymore.”
During the discussion, Adams said many of the Black people he had spoken to said not only do they understand what he was saying, but they had invited him to the barbecue.
The reference to “invited to the barbecue” or cookout relates to being allowed access to a group of people who identify as Black.
As it relates to the thought of Adams having an invitation to the barbecue, social media users had plenty to say. “I refuse to believe that Scott Adams is invited to any decent BBQ.”
Another person rescinded his invitation, writing, “Scott Adams has been uninvited to the barbecue.”
In a Cuomo interview, Michael Eric Dyson, an author and Vanderbilt University professor said: “He may be [at the barbecue] on the grill and not on the attendance bench.”
Adams told Cuomo that he didn’t see the need to apologize.
Some Black people did agree with Adams, including a caller to the show, Florence from Long Island, who claimed to be Black. She said people were being “overly sensitive” about Adams’ comments and had not taken the time to truly listen to him before canceling him.
One person on social media disagreed, saying, “It’s all dung, he meant every word he said and I agree, leave us be.”
Dyson also believes his comments were disingenuous. He said he is “a huge critic of cancel culture” and rejects Adams’ explanation of the comments, particularly because the phrase and the poll were originally generated by sites frequented by white supremacists.
One good thing that did come out of this debacle, according to Adams, is that he now has more freedom than any other white man in the country because he has been canceled.
The fallout from Adams’ comments includes newspapers such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the USA Today network ending his syndication. “Dilbert” has been a staple for many of these publications since it was created in 1989.
