Nearly 80 publications have given Dilbert, a popular daily comic strip that’s a spoof of the modern workday world, the boot, according to the strip’s author, cartoonist Scott Adams.
In a tweet, he noted, “Dilbert was canceled in 77 newspapers this week.”
#Dilbert [1] was cancelled in 77 newspapers this week.
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) September 20, 2022 [2]
Dilbert has had a 33-year run and the removal of the popular strip is just one of several cuts made by Lee Enterprises, which is allegedly shrinking its cartoon pages, according to The New York Daily News. [3]Folks on Twitter had mixed reactions to Adams’s announcement — some said they will miss it, while others said they didn’t find it funny at all.
“Am I being controversial if I say I still enjoy the strip?” one Twitter user asked.
Another user asked, with just the slightest hint of sarcasm:
“Have you tried making it funny or good?”
Illustrator Dan Piraro, whose cartoon Bizarro is pointedly funny suffered similar bad news from the company as it seeks to reduce the number of comic strips it runs daily.
“Lee Enterprises, a newspaper group that is majority-owned by a large investment firm, stopped running ‘Bizarro’ and many other comics in their papers last week,” Piraro wrote [4] on his webpage.
Pirraro added that most of his readers see his comics online, but the print media, he added, is “our most reliable — and almost only — revenue source.” It’s newspaper sales that help keep him in business, he said. Dilbert cartoonist Adams told Fox News this is a pretty big financial blow too, by his series being culled by newspapers.
Right-Wing publications stepped up and tried to insist that Dilbert was canceled due to political agendas. The Daily News requested comment from Adams and Lee Enterprises but neither responded.
Daily Cartoonist reports that Baby Blues, Red and Rover, and Mutts, were some of the other comic strips that were cut by Lee Enterprises.
The thing to know about Adams is that he can be particularly vile — he’s wildly misogynistic, [5] and one comic strip is a stupid depiction [6] of feminists, The Mary Sue notes, adding he’s also spent at least a decade complaining [7] about the decline of rape culture. He’s also an unfunny racist and transphobic as this tweet shows below.
"Dilbert" creator Dilbert introduces first black character in 33-year run, introduced solely to hate trans people pic.twitter.com/sQpaLn1Cyc [8]
— Lena (@banalplay) May 2, 2022 [9]
Did I also mention he’s a shameless huckster who actually used a mass shooting for an app he was trying to promote? I didn’t? Well, now you know.
It’s a news gathering tool, like CNN and FOXNEws (among other uses). No fake outrage necessary. This is one of its intended purposes.
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) July 29, 2019 [10]
I’m sad to see truly well-done comic strips like Bizarro take such a hit. But as my dearly departed mom would say, “Dilbert can take a flying f*ck at the moon.”
Members of the Twitterati had fun commenting on his tweet about his strip being canceled.
It was never worth reading to begin with.
— Beethoven's Rose 🇺🇸🇺🇦☮️ (@BeethovenRose) September 22, 2022 [11]
Because a set of newspapers changed their cartoon coverage. But here you go. pic.twitter.com/YN6M24Xf0j [12]
— Stand Up for Your Rights (@LegalHippie) September 22, 2022 [13]
A good start!
— Luigi 😷😷😷😷 Scardoffi (@Luigi_Scardoffi) September 22, 2022 [14]