Scott Adams, the creator of the popular comic strip “Dilbert,” has died, according to an announcement on his social media pages.
Adams announced in May that he’d been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
“Dilbert,” a chronicle of the indignities of American office work, was one of the country’s most popular comic strips from its breakout success in the 1990s until February 2023, when Adams made racist comments against Black Americans, calling them a “hate group” that white people should “get the hell away from,” in response to a dubious poll about whether it’s “OK to be white.” Hundreds of newspapers stopped carrying “Dilbert” within days, and the strip was soon dropped by its distributor.
Adams began self-publishing the strip, a “spicier version” called “Dilbert Reborn,” on his website for a subscription fee. He stopped drawing “Dilbert” in November 2025 due to cramping and partial paralysis in his hands, he said, though he continued to write the strips.
Adams’ ex-wife Shelly Miles announced his death on Tuesday’s episode of the livestream “Coffee with Scott Adams,” which he hosted daily until his death, with a written statement from Adams.
“I had an amazing life,” Scott Adams wrote in the statement, composed on New Year’s Day. “I gave it everything I had. If I get any benefits from my work, I’m asking that you pay it forward as best as you can. That’s the legacy I want. Be useful, and please know, I loved you all to the very end.”
This story is developing and will be updated.
