Chris Cuomo interviewed Scott Adams on Monday night in a lengthy interview and concluded afterward the Dilbert creator should be uncanceled after he made racist remarks.
Last month, Adams cited a poll indicating a narrow majority of Black people agreed with the phrase, “It’s okay to be White,” which is a refrain occasionally used with racist memes.
“If nearly half of all Blacks are not okay with White people… that’s a hate group,” Adams said on his YouTube show. “I don’t want to have anything to do with them. And I would say, based on the current way things are going, the best advice I would give to White people is to get the hell away from Black people… because there is no fixing this.”
Not surprisingly, newspapers across the country dropped Dilbert and cut ties with Adams. He also lost a book deal.
When asked if he would give Adams his gigs back if it were up to him, Cuomo replied, “Yeah, I would.”
Cuomo’s interview with Adams on NewsNation ran roughly 47 minutes and spanned multiple commercial breaks. The cartoonist said his remarks were taken out of context.
However, Adams also said, “I intentionally courted controversy.”
After Cuomo wrapped up his show, it was time for the handoff to Dan Abrams.
Abrams, who founded Mediaite, said he initially assumed Adams was being unfairly maligned before he listened to what he actually said.
“Then I went and listened to the entirety of what he said, all the context,” Abrams told Cuomo. “And it sounds to me from your interview like he’s saying on the one hand, it was taken out of context. And then on the other hand, he’s saying it was intentional hyperbole. Those two things are at odds with one another. Either it was taken out of context, or he knew exactly what he was saying and he was trying to get things going. And it seems to me like it’s the latter. It wasn’t taken out of context.”
He added, “There’s no defending him.”
Cuomo pushed back and the two hosts had the following exchange:
CUOMO: I’m so desperate for the conversation. I think that there’s such weaponizing of the division that it’s so easy to cancel him. But all it does is feed the people out there who are selling the same thing.
ABRAMS: That’s true, but what’s the other solution? What’s the other option?
CUOMO: Conversation
ABRAMS: Ok, but conversation with him–
CUOMO: Because he’s not David Duke. David Duke doesn’t get airtime.
ABRAMS: I’m not challenging you having him on the show. I’m challenging, “Now, you think that all those places that said we don’t want to have anything to do with him” should reinstate him?
CUOMO: If it were me? Yeah, yeah, I would if he was going to make it clear and use that opportunity because I really believe–
ABRAMS: But he’s not saying–I mean that’s the problem. He’s saying, “I did this on purpose.”
CUOMO: But you know what? Look, Dan, is he wrong not to apologize? What happens when you apologize?
ABRAMS: Look, the only reason to apologize mwould be to try to get his jobs back. Do I think that would work? No. I think he’s done. I think it’s over.
CUOMO: Apologizing is a sign of weakness these days because as Mark Davis said, there is no grace, there is no mercy. So, you know, look, I’m just saying, what do I think happens with him? I don’t think it’s relevant. What matters is, if you think he’s the only person who’s saying, “It’s getting worse and worse for White people.”
ABRAMS: Right, but that’s not what he was saying. Right? If he was just saying it’s getting worse and worse for White people, he wouldn’t have been canceled. It was the comments that he made about Black people that got him into trouble.
CUOMO: Agreed.
Abrams concluded by reiterating that he can’t come up with a defense of Adams after watching his remarks in full.
Watch above via NewsNation.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.