The rise and fall of 'Dilbert' creator Scott Adams
What's the story
Scott Adams, the controversial cartoonist behind the popular comic strip Dilbert, has died at the age of 68. He was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer in May 2025 and was given only months to live. In November, he publicly sought help from President Donald Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jr. to resolve health insurance issues that delayed his treatment with an FDA-approved drug called Pluvicto. "He...respected me when it wasn't fashionable to do so," Trump said of Adams.
Career highlights
Adams's career and controversies
While he was a lifelong comics lover and illustrator, Adams began his career in the white-collar milieu he would later mock with Dilbert. In 1979, he graduated from college with an economics degree and began working as a bank teller in San Francisco. Over the next few years, Adams worked a number of jobs at the bank while still drawing comics, including early versions of the character that would become Dilbert.
Early years
Adams's early life and education
His initial efforts were unsuccessful, but in 1988, United Media provided him the opportunity to completely develop the strip. Dilbert debuted in April 1989, and within a few years, it was published in 150 newspapers. "Dilbert became shorthand for bad management, oppressed cubicle workers, and high-tech life," he said. By the end of 1995, Dilbert had appeared in 800 newspapers. The next year, he released The Dilbert Principle, a business book featuring comics that became a New York Times bestseller.
Downfall
Adams was initially often critical of Trump
While Adams was initially often critical of Trump, in his later years, he became a prominent figure in the conservative media ecosystem. He also hosted the popular podcast, Real Coffee With Scott Adams, which often featured interviews with right-wing figures like Matt Gaetz. He soon found himself entangled in culture war controversies, often surrounding race. In 2022, over 75 newspapers dropped Dilbert after Adams debuted the strip's first Black character, whom he subsequently used as a prop to mock "wokeness."
Newspapers
He was canceled by hundreds of papers
A year later, a hundred more papers, including The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and the entire USA Today network, pulled the comic after Adams referred to Black Americans as a "hate group" that white Americans should "get the hell away from." He made the claim after a conservative organization poll claimed that many Black people did not think it was acceptable to be white. Adams argued that his remarks were "hyperbole."
Health battles
Adams's final years
Even after the comic strip stopped appearing in newspapers, Adams kept Dilbert alive on his website. Adams's hand was ultimately forced in November 2025, when his cancer diagnosis made it impossible for him to continue drawing Dilbert. "It just sort of is what it is," he said on his YouTube show. Dilbert revolves around its main character, a white-collar engineer named Dilbert, as he navigates the dysfunctional bureaucracy of his workplace, along with his sidekick, Dogbert, an anthropomorphized megalomaniac dog.