As newspapers across the country cut ties with “Dilbert” comic strip creator Scott Adams,(opens in new tab) After the livestreamed racist rant, one influential Twitter user doubled down in his defense: Twitter owner Elon Musk.
For Musk, it all started with a fairly harmless question.
“What exactly are they complaining about?” he asked in reply to the creator of “Dilbert.” Adams criticized a reporter who shared a story that the newspaper had dropped the comic.
Shortly after, Musk deleted his tweet to Adams, ostensibly to find out what the discourse was about. I told him to stay away from white people.
However, Musk is back to defend Adams in a series of tweets.
In response to a right-wing Twitter account attacking the media for covering the Adams story, the mask murmured “The media is racist.”(opens in new tab)
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“in order to very For a long time, the American media was racist against non-whites, but now it’s becoming racist against whites and Asians. ” Musk continuation(opens in new tab)“The same thing happened in America’s elite colleges and high schools. Maybe we can try not to be racist.”
When another Twitter user responded that Adams’ comments were “not good” but had an “element of truth,” Musk simply responded “that’s right.”(opens in new tab)
Musk’s latest comment, posted on Twitter just before this article was published, was to opine that Adams was “cancelled.”
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“I don’t agree with everything Scott says, but Dilbert is really funny and insightful.” murmured Musk.(opens in new tab) “You should stop laughing!”
Other than those comments, Musk did not condemn Adams’ remarks.
‘Dilbert’ creator’s racist rant
On Wednesday, Adams was hosting his livestream show “Real Coffee with Scott Adams” when he started ranting about a poll from right-leaning pollster Rasmussen.
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The poll asked surveyed participants if they agreed with the phrase, “It’s okay to be white.” The phrase started as a troll campaign on his 4chan in 2017. Whatever the actual intentions of the caller, not long after the 4chan campaign, actual white supremacists also started adopting the phrase.of Anti-Defamation League(opens in new tab) He cites the phrase as a symbol of hatred.
Nevertheless, a Rasmussen poll found that a majority of blacks polled (53%) agreed with the statement, 26% disagreed, and 21% were unsure. It’s not hard to imagine that a person might have been familiar with the actual meaning of that very specific phrase.
But the author of the comic “Dilbert” was outraged by the poll.
“If nearly half of all blacks, according to this poll, not me, are favorable to whites, then it’s a hate group and I don’t want to have anything to do with them,” Adams said. And based on the current situation, the best advice I would give white people is to stay away from black people completely. cannot be modified.”
Within days, hundreds of newspapers announced that they would be removing “Dilbert” comic strips.
“Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert Comic Strip, released a racist rant on his Coffee with Scott Adams online video show this week. plain dealersaid editor Chris Quinn. director(opens in new tab) On the outlet’s website Cleveland.com(opens in new tab)“This is not a difficult decision.”
“The Times has decided to discontinue publication of Dilbert. announced of LA Times.(opens in new tab) “Caricaturist Scott Adams made a racist comment on a Feb. 22 YouTube livestream that The Times has denied.”
By Monday, even the comic’s distributor, Andrews McMeal Universal, had cut ties with Adams.
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It’s no surprise to see Musk openly joining the conversation in defense of Adams.
For years, black workers at Tesla, where Musk is CEO, have filed allegations of racism they experienced while at the company. example(opens in new tab) It includes slander and racist harassment reportedly directed at a black Tesla employee by a boss at the automaker’s factory. submitted(opens in new tab) Over the years, one employee received a jury verdict of $137 million.But former Tesla employees go return to court(opens in new tab) for a new trial after a judge cut the amount to $15 million.
Since Musk took over Twitter, many of the previously suspended accounts have right end with users white supremacist I was revived and allowed to return to the platform. Shortly after Musk’s acquisition, researchers discovered Use of racial slurs(opens in new tab) It went up 500% on Twitter.Musk too teased The ‘Stay Woke’ T-shirt was printed under former CEO Jack Dorsey’s reign to show the company’s support for Black Lives Matter.
Musk’s actions affected Twitter lose About half of the largest advertisers. However, Adams’ recent defense of racism doesn’t seem to have much of a deterrent to the billionaire’s actions.
