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Rightwing Dilbert creator Scott Adams tried to make a trans joke. He failed spectacularly.

Scott Adams said that he will be canceled for his comic strip
Scott Adams said that he will be canceled for his comic strip Photo: Screenshot

Scott Adams, the creator of the long-running Dilbert comic strip, tried to make a joke at transgender people’s expense. But he failed spectacularly.

“Let’s see if the world is ready for this,” Adams wrote in a tweet about his comic on May 2.

Related: Trump-supporting ‘Dilbert’ creator Scott Adams sides with Milo Yiannopoulos

The comic shows the manager introducing new coworker Dave to Dilbert and the rest of the crew. Dave is drawn to indicate that he’s Black, making him the first Black character in the comic that debuted in 1989.

“I identify as white,” Dave responds, a “joke” that readers interpreted as mocking transgender people’s identities. Adams denied the insinuation but didn’t providing another explanation of what his joke was intended to be.

“Dave will be featured all week, so if this one doesn’t get me cancelled, more chances to come,” Adams said, even though it was clear that his comic strip was not going to get canceled.

Except… his joke didn’t quite land. Adams apparently didn’t realize that most newspapers don’t print weekday comic strips in color. So the people who actually saw Dilbert in a newspaper on May 2 probably didn’t understand what Adams was trying to say.

Comic strip artists will often using shading to indicate differences in color instead of relying on actual colors for weekday strips, but Adams is apparently not that kind of artist.

He, instead, spent the rest of the week demanding to know if he has been “cancelled yet.”

He also accused gay people of wanting to “touch our kids” while responding to out Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s response to Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law.

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