Scott Adams, 'Dilbert' creator who poked fun at bad bosses, dies at 68

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

January 13, 2026 at 10:37 a.m. EST


Scott Adams, who became a hero to millions of cubicle-dwelling office workers as the creator of the satirical comic strip “Dilbert,” only to rebrand himself as a digital provocateur — at home in the Trump era’s right-wing mediasphere — with inflammatory comments about race, politics and identity, died Jan. 13. He was 68.

His former wife Shelly Miles announced his death in a live stream Tuesday morning, reading a statement she said Mr. Adams had prepared before his death. “I had an amazing life,” the statement said in part. “I gave it everything I had.”

Mr. Adams announced in May 2025 that he had metastatic prostate cancer, with only months to live. In a YouTube live stream, he said he had tried to avoid discussing his diagnosis (“once you go public, you’re just the dying cancer guy”) but decided to speak up after President Joe Biden revealed he had the same illness.

“I’d like to extend my respect and compassion for the ex-president and his family because they’re going through an especially tough time,” he said. “It’s a terrible disease.”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2026/01/13/scott-adams-dead-dilbert/

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No paywall (gift)

[QueerDuck]

1. Meh... he was MAGA, wasn't he? No big loss.

[bearsfootball516]

2. Extremely. Very far right.

No tears shed over here.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Yup

although that last sentence in the OP appears to be him "repenting" with a reference to Biden, who is being treated for prostate cancer.

[QueerDuck]

4. I read that... and chuckled wryly.

[fujiyamasan]

10. I didn't know about that comment until now

Surprised to see what almost sounded like empathy.

[TexasBushwhacker]

34. I appreciated his empathy but he went full MAGA

on his treatment. I don't know when he was initially diagnosed with PC, because he didn't announce it until he was Stage 4, but he had been taking Ivermectin and Fenbendazole initially, but said they "didn't work".

[travelingthrulife]

38. The fool took it for a whole year until he predictably progressed.

My MAGA brother is using the same regime for prostate cancer. He will die from it soon I suppose.

[hueymahl]

25. Very empathetic of you

He had a profoundly good impact on many, many people. He had common sense and insight into the absurdity of life. He may not have held the same views as us on many political issues, but I mourn his loss.

[QueerDuck]

37. Aww. Such a shame to say goodbye to a racist misogynist asshole like him.

Please. Give me a break. The world needs fewer people like him. Good riddance I say! He was not a decent human being.

[hueymahl]

42. We will have to agree to disagree

Just because you disagree with someone, does not make them an asshole.

Why do you think he was racist? I have not read everything he wrote by a long shot, but never came across racism.

[travelingthrulife]

39. lol. You clearly did not know him very well.

[hueymahl]

43. I did not know him at all

I just knew him from his writings. I disagreed with most of his opinions, but I respected that he would peacefully debate them and put them out there in detail for the world to attack, praise or ignore. Free and open debate is what makes our pluralistic society work.

[dalton99a]

5. Safe in the arms of the blond blue-eyed Jesus and away from the dark-skinned folks

Last edited Tue Jan 13, 2026, 12:47 PM - Edit history (1)

[hueymahl]

26. A pragmatist to the end.

He believed in Pascal's wager at least!

[Ray Bruns]

6. I have never wished someone dead, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.

[grockri]

7. He will not be missed.

Trumpian asshole. The world is a better place.

[hueymahl]

27. Hard disagree

It's about time we stop pigeonholing people just because they have some political views we disagree with.

Scott had many wonderful aspects to him and impacted positively many people, myself included.

[travelingthrulife]

40. Read the things he has said about people. He was a raging asshole.

[hueymahl]

41. I have read a lot of his stuff, but not everything

I would not call him raging or an asshole. I disagreed with much of his beliefs, but he took the time to explain them and debate people. Exactly the type of behavior we need more of - peaceful discussion and debate.

[Javaman]

8. Huh...how about that. nt

[durablend]

13. Yes. Well.

How's the weather?

[Dave Bowman]

31. How 'bout them Dodgers?

[The Grand Illuminist]

9. We definitely need more good news like this.

Rejoice and celebrate.

[turbinetree]

11. ...........

[Exp]

12. Whatever you do, make sure that you don't hang around people like Scott Adams. nt

[FakeNoose]

14. Despite his nasty right-wing politics, his humor will be missed

RIP Scott Adams, and thanks for all the great cartoons.

I wish you had just stopped there, and stayed out of politics.

[Lemon Lyman]

15. -

He talked about "treating" his disease with ivermectin (or whatever those looney toons think cures everything) for a while. It didn't work. Shocker!

Of course after that didn't work he openly pleaded with the current "administration" for the amazing new drugs pharma has in the pipeline. They don't believe in pharma or real medicine until they're dying. They get sick and they run to pharma & real medicine begging to be saved. I'm pretty sure the "administration" hooked him up too. Again, shocker!

[SpankMe]

16. Dilbert cartoons were hilarious and spot-on

Then, when Adams started espousing Trumpist nonsense, the cartoons stopped being funny. Each one I saw became a reminder of MAGA nonsense. I became an un-fan real quick.

I'm not "glad" he's gone. Prostate cancer creeps up on you and kills. I hate it. I'm OK just ignoring his cartoons and any public commentary he made. Now that he's gone, that's one less high profile MAGAt in the world to lend his "expertise" in public forums.

[cab67]

17. They stopped being funny when he started adding climate change denial to the strip.

This was before his MAGA affinities were clear.

But I responded by not reading his strip anymore. I never developed any sort of scorn for the man.

[bearsfootball516]

21. It feels like he drifted further and further right over the last decade.

During Dilbert's hey-day, he never came across as political.

[thought crime]

30. I laughed at Dilbert until they became a management tool.

Many of the jokes were aimed at engineers and low-level managers. In a subtle way, they urged acceptance of poor management as a largely harmless fact of life that must be tolerated. "Grin and bear it".

[LittleGirl]

18. Back when McCain was running for potus

I realized that I had inadvertently followed someone that was racist to his core and I stopped. I used to read his blogs. Then the racism came out and I was LIKE WHOA MAN, WTF?

I stopped reading and following and now...rest in peace Dilbert. Too bad you torched your legacy with your bigotry and hatred.
see ya bye.

[maxsolomon]

19. I always recall an interview he did with Bill Maher

Back when President Narcissist started his campaign in 2016. Adams explained what Trump was doing with the racist Birther nonsense - which he didn't start but coopted to boost his national profile.

https://blogs.bu.edu/ellisrp/2016/06/sobering-scott-adams-interview-about-trump-on-real-time/

He explained it as a con man's gambit - "Pacing and Leading" (which comes from NLP). I thought he nailed Trump's M.O. pretty accurately, and he was anything but complementary.

And then he endorsed him. RIP I guess.

[Nasruddin]

28. It was strange

He also identified T as a kind of hypnotist which he was familiar with from his own training in similar area. (Ericksonian hypnosis - subtle entrainment via storytelling &c). I have never been too sure about Milton Erickson and his techniques but there may be a partial explanation in there for the cult, for why people believe the known liar, and even why they find Mr T humorous.

I personally found that helpful.

And yet... and yet .... Adams fell for it himself.

Knowledge isn't everything! RIP.

[Ziggysmom]

20. He was a moron, but I always thought Dogbert was cute.

Nt

[ancianita]

22. Adams' politics will be forgotten, and his Dilbert series will live on. RIP, Scott. Thank you for the chuckles.

[kimbutgar]

23. His cartoons were funny

But I have to stop there and say that’s the only thing I can say anything nice about him since he was a magaloon.

[twodogsbarking]

24. I had saved some of his strips but threw them out years ago. He had a problem with females I think.

[BumRushDaShow]

33. I remember a bunch of years ago taking a contracted Supervisory course

(bosses had a million of those) and one of them included one of his books, which I think was this one -

[LudwigPastorius]

29. Oh no!

Anyway...

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

32. I mourn his passing ...

... as I mourned Charlie Kirk's.

[Wiz Imp]

35. When Adams started Dilbert, it was a decent strip that found humor in office life

However, as time went on, Adams decided that instead of the person to be most mocked, that the pointy haired boss was actually the hero of this world. Great analysis here:
https://www.theawl.com/2017/12/dilbert-a-reckoning/
or a brief overview here:
https://www.avclub.com/the-hero-of-dilbert-is-now-dilberts-boss-1821258521

But Adams proved himself to be a horrible person (racist, miogynist, anti-semite, etc) at least 20 years ago.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/13/scott-adams-dead-at-68-00724995

He attracted attention for controversial comments, including saying in 2011 that women are treated differently by society for the same reason as children and the mentally disabled — “it’s just easier this way for everyone.” In a blog post from 2006, he questioned the death toll of the Holocaust.

In June 2020, Adams tweeted that when the “Dilbert” TV show ended in 2000 after just two seasons, it was “the third job I lost for being white.” But, at the time, he blamed it on lower viewership and time slot changes.

Adams’ beliefs began bleeding into his strips. In one in 2022, a boss says that traditional performance reviews would be replaced by a “wokeness” score. When an employee complains that could be subjective, the boss said, “That’ll cost you two points off your wokeness score, bigot.”

Adams put a brave face on his fall from grace, tweeting in 2023: “Only the dying leftist Fake News industry canceled me (for out-of-context news of course). Social media and banking unaffected. Personal life improved. Never been more popular in my life. Zero pushback in person. Black and White conservatives solidly supporting me.”

He really was an awful human being.

[lostincalifornia]

36. Don't know the history, but I suspect the RFK jr and conspiracy nuts contributed to his demise since as I understand it

was taking invermectin and other maga and conspiracy junk science.

I don't wish this on anyone.