Elon Musk calls the media 'racist' after cancelation of Dilbert comic creator over citing poll numbers

Following a recent episode of Dilbert comic artist Scott Adams’ podcast on YouTube in which he cited a poll asking the American population if "it’s ok to be white," Twitter owner Elon Musk has chimed in, stating that "the media is racist."

"For a *very* long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians," Musk wrote. "Same thing happened with elite colleges & high schools in America. Maybe they can try not being racist."

The comments came in response to a podcast episode Adams posted to YouTube late last week, in which Adams reacted to a February 22 Rasmussen poll that asked 1,000 Americans between February 13 and 15, "is it ok to be white?"

72 percent of Americans overall agreed with the statement, with the poll also finding that around half of black respondents, 53 percent, agreed with the statement. 26 percent of black respondents disagreed with the statement, while 21 percent were unsure.

"If nearly half of Blacks are not OK with white people — according to this poll, not according to me, according to this poll  — uh that’s a hate group," Adams said on his show. "That’s a hate group and I don’t wanna have anything to do with ‘em. And I would say the best advice I could give to white people is to get the hell away from Black people."

"Just get the f*ck away," he added. "wherever you have to go, just get away, because there’s no fixing this. This can’t be fixed."

Adams continued on by stating that he "went to a neighborhood where, you know, I have a very low black population," adding that, according to CNN host Don Lemon, there are "a bunch of problems" in majority black neighborhoods that are not present in white neighborhoods.

“It makes no sense whatsoever as a white citizen of America to try to help Black citizens anymore,” he later added.

Adams continued on to say, "now, we should be friendly, I’m not saying start a war, or, you know, do anything bad, nothing like that, I’m just saying, get away."

Adams added that communities who prioritize education "do well," and if the black community prioritized this, "they’ll do well as well."

"I can’t make that my problem anymore, it just can’t be my problem. It can’t be my problem if the solution is so clear, so available," he said, adding that he resigns "from the gate group called black Americans, referencing a January 2022 tweet in which he stated that he would "self-identify as a Black woman" until Biden, who said at the time that his Supreme Court pick would be a black woman, "picks his Supreme Court nominee."

In response to backlash over his comments, Adams wrote on Twitter, "I've lost three careers to direct racism so far. Crocker Bank, Pacific Bell, and cartooning. All three were perpetrated by White people for their own gain. No Black person has ever discriminated against me. That's partly why I identified as Black for several years."

He added, "White people in the media are also the main source of worsening race relations."

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Gannett, which runs hundreds of local US media outlets and publishes USA Today, announced on Friday that it would no longer be publishing the Dilbert comic strip because of "recent discriminatory comments" by Adams.

In September of 2022, Adams announced that the comic strip had been pulled from nearly 80 markets.

In subsequent podcast episodes, including one posted on Saturday, Adams defended his comments, stating people on average shouldn’t avoid situations where you’re disliked, adding that "does anybody think that good, let’s say life or career strategy would involve going where you have the least chance of success because people dislike you?"

"On an individual level you should absolutely be nice to your neighbor, unless they’re Neo-Nazis, of course, but you know, if you’ve got a black neighbor or a black family member you know, increasingly there’s more of that, do you think I’m saying you should avoid them? Does anybody interpret it that way? Does anybody think that you should shun your coworkers?"