Scott Adams, creator of the comic strip Dilbert which ridiculed white-collar office life, dies at 68

Scott Adams, whose popular comic strip Dilbert captured the frustration of stressed and overwhelmed, white-collar cubicle workers and satirised the ridiculousness of modern office culture, has died at 68.

His first ex-wife, Shelly Miles, announced the death on Tuesday on a livestream posted on Adams’ social media accounts.

“He’s not with us right anymore,” she said.

Adams revealed in 2025 that he had prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.

Miles had said he was in hospice care in his Northern California home on Monday.

“I had an amazing life,” the statement said in part. “I gave it everything I had.”

At its height, Dilbert, with its mouthless, bespectacled hero in a white short-sleeved shirt and a perpetually curled red tie, appeared in 2000 newspapers worldwide in at least 70 countries and 25 languages.

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Dilbert saw breakout success in the 1990s until February 2023, until he was abruptly dropped from syndication in 2023 for racist remarks.

Adams was the 1997 recipient of the National Cartoonist Society’s Reuben Award, considered one of the most prestigious awards for cartoonists. That same year, Dilbert became the first fictional character to make Time magazine’s list of the most influential Americans.

“We are rooting for him because he is our mouthpiece for the lessons we have accumulated – but are too afraid to express – in our effort to avoid cubicular homicide,” the magazine said.

Dilbert strips were routinely photocopied, pinned up, emailed and posted online, a popularity that would spawn bestselling books, merchandise, commercials for Office Depot and an animated TV series, with Daniel Stern voicing Dilbert.

The collapse of ‘Dilbert’ empire

It all collapsed quickly in 2023 when Adams, who was white, repeatedly referred to Black people as members of a “hate group” and said he would no longer “help Black Americans.” He later said he was being hyperbolic, yet continued to defend his stance.

Almost immediately, newspapers dropped Dilbert and his distributor, Andrews McMeel Universal, severed ties with the cartoonist.

The Sun Chronicle in Attleboro, Massachusetts, decided to keep the Dilbert space blank for a while “as a reminder of the racism that pervades our society". A planned book was scrapped.

“He’s not being cancelled. He’s experiencing the consequences of expressing his views,” Bill Holbrook, the creator of the strip On the Fastrack, told The Associated Press at the time.

“I am in full support with him saying anything he wants to, but then he has to own the consequences of saying them.”

Adams relaunched the same daily comic strip under the name Dilbert Reborn via the video platform Rumble, popular with conservatives and far-right groups.

He also hosted a podcast, Real Coffee, where he talked about various political and social issues.

After Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show on ABC was suspended in September in the wake of the host’s comments on the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Adams stood for free speech.

“Would I like some revenge?” Adams said.

“Yes. Yes, I would enjoy that. But that doesn’t mean I get it. That doesn’t mean I should pursue it. Doesn’t mean the world’s a better place if it happens.”

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump remembered Adams as a “Great Influencer.”

“He was a fantastic guy, who liked and respected me when it wasn’t fashionable to do so. He bravely fought a long battle against a terrible disease,” the president posted on his social media platform, Truth Social.

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