Elon Musk has sensationally claimed the media is racist to white people and Asians as he voiced his support for disgraced ‘Dilbert’ comic strip creator Scott Adams.
Newspapers announced they were dropping the ‘Dilbert’ series this weekend following a racist tirade from Adams in which he urged his followers to ‘get the f**k’ away from black people.
But Twitter CEO Elon Musk appeared to back the shamed creator as he replied to a tweet about the controversy claiming ‘the media is racist.’
‘For a *very* long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians,’ the 51-year-old billionaire explained.
‘Same thing happened with elite colleges and high schools in America. Maybe they can try not being racist.’
Elon Musk has weighed into the row surrounding ‘Dilbert’ creator Scott Adams after he went on a racist tirade urging his followers to ‘get the f**k away’ from black people
Musk later tweeted ‘exactly’ in response to a tweet which claimed ‘Adams’ comments weren’t good but there’s an element of truth to this… it’s complicated.’
It comes after The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the USA Today network all dropped the ‘Dilbert’ series from their pages following remarks made by Adams, who is believed to have amassed a $70 million fortune from it.
Gannett, which publishes more than 100 newspapers in the US, also said it was dropping the series this weekend.
The comic has been in circulation since 1989 and is famed for poking fun at office culture.
Adams said in the livestreamed talk on Wednesday: ‘The best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from black people.
‘Just get the f**k away. Wherever you have to go, just get away.’
He added: ‘There’s no fixing this. This can’t be fixed… You just have to escape. So that’s what I did, I went to a neighborhood where I have a very low black population.’
The 65-year-old went on to label black people a ‘hate group,’ citing a poll that found nearly half of black people are not ok with white people.
The hour-long YouTube video was posted to Adams’ channel which has 118,000 subscribers. As of Sunday it had 242,000 views.
The Washington Post said that it had decided to cease publication of the comic ‘in light of Scott Adams’ recent statements promoting segregation.
Meanwhile a Gannett spokesman said that while it ‘respects and encourages free speech,’ Adams’ comments did not align with its ‘editorial of business values as an organization.’
But Adams doubled down on his comments on Sunday as he claimed bigotry was ok in certain situations.
He also insisted Don Lemon shares his views as he reposted a 2013 clip of the CNN host offering advice to the black community.
Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the US said it was dropping the series this weekend over its creator’s racist YouTube tirade
Dilbert has featured in newspapers across 57 countries, and in 19 languages – and there are over 20 million Dilbert books and calendars in print
He likened his comments to the former vice president Mike Pence’s personal policy, where he said he never dines alone with a woman other than his wife.
Many slammed Pence’s remarks as sexist but Adams interpreted it as a way for a man to keep themselves safe from false accusations of sexual misconduct.
He added his advice about avoiding black people stemmed from the same fear of supposed false racism allegations.
The embattled cartoonist went further as he urged ‘everyone’ to embrace racism in the workplace.
‘I’m just saying: as a personal, career decision, you should absolutely be racist whenever it’s to your advantage, and that’s for men, for women, for Black or white, Asian or Hispanic,’ he said.
Dilbert had already been canned by 77 newspapers due to its increasingly controversial plotlines including one about a black character who identifies as white.
In September, Lee enterprises, which owns The Buffalo News, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Arizona Daily Sun – also dropped the cartoon from its newspapers.
Last year one plotline saw a black character, who identifies as white, being asked to also identify as gay to boost his company’s environmental, social, and governance ratings.
Dave, his reoccurring character, replies: ‘Depends how hard you want me to sell it,’ before the boss responds: ‘Just wear better shirts.’
Another satire showed the same character in charge of the fictional firm wondering how he can open a new factory without contributing negatively to the environment.
Adams, pictured in 2001, has come under fire for the ‘racist’ remarks posted to his YouTube channel Real Coffee with Scott Adams
As a solution to stop him being bashed by ‘woke’ commentators, the boss concludes that he’ll add a non-binary worker to his board to increase diversity.
Adams’ satirical strips feature in newspapers across 57 countries, and in 19 languages – and there are over 20 million Dilbert books and calendars in print.
