The creator of the Dilbert comic strip, Scott Adams, experienced arguably the greatest impact from his Recent Breed Comments when distributor Andrews McMeel Universal announced Sunday that it would no longer work with the cartoonist.

Andrews McMeel Chairman Hugh Andrews and CEO and Chairman Andy Sareyan said in a joint statement that the syndication company was “severing our relationship” with Adams.

On the February 22 episode of his YouTube show, Adams described black people as members of “a hate group” that white people should “stay away from.” Several US media publishers denounced the comments as racist, hateful and discriminatory and said they would no longer provide a platform for their work.

Andrews and Sareyan said Andrews McMeel supports free speech, but the cartoonist’s comments were not consistent with the Kansas City, Missouri-based company’s core values.

“We are proud to promote and share many different voices and perspectives. But we will never support any comments based on discrimination or hate,” they said in the statement posted on the company’s website and on Twitter.

The creator of the long-running comic that mocks office space culture has defended himself on social media against those he said “hate me and are canceling me.”

The backlash against Adams arose after comments about “Real Coffee with Scott Adams.” Among other topics, Adams used the YouTube show to reference a Rasmussen Reports poll that asked if people agreed with the statement “It’s okay to be white.”

Most agreed, but Adams noted that 26% of black respondents disagreed and others were unsure.

The Anti-Defamation League says the phrase was popularized in 2017 as a trolling campaign by members of the 4chan discussion forum, but later began to be used by some white supremacists.

Adams, who is white, repeatedly referred to black people as members of a “hate group” or a “racist hate group” and said he would no longer “help black Americans.”

“The way things are going right now, the best advice I would give white people is to stay away from black people,” Adams said on his Wednesday show.

In another episode of his online show on Saturday, Adams said he had been insisting that “everyone should be treated as an individual” without discrimination.

“But you should also avoid any group that doesn’t respect you, even if there are people within the group that are okay,” Adams said.

Dilbert had already been dropped by various media outlets at the time of his distributor’s announcement.

“We have decided to stop publishing the ‘Dilbert’ comic strip in our international print edition following Scott Adams’ racist comments,” said Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for The New York Times who said that Dilbert was published in the international print edition but not in the American or online edition.

the washington post he said he would stop running Dilbert in light of “recent statements by Scott Adams promoting segregation”, though the strip could not be prevented from running in some upcoming print editions.

los angeles times cited Adams’ “racist comments” in announcing Saturday that Dilbert will be discontinued Monday in most issues and that its final run in Sunday comics, which are printed ahead of time, will be March 12.

The San Antonio Express Newswhich is part of Hearst Newspapers, said Saturday that it will stop publishing the Dilbert comic strip, effective Monday, “due to hateful and discriminatory public comments by its creator.”

USA Today Network tweeted Friday that he will stop publishing Dilbert “due to recent discriminatory comments by his creator.”

The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and other publications that are part of the Advance Local media company also announced that they will remove Dilbert.

“This is a decision based on the principles of this news organization and the community we serve,” wrote Chris Quinn, editor of Plain Dealer. “We are not a home for those who stand up for racism. We certainly don’t want to provide them with financial support.”

Christopher Kelly, Vice President of Content at NJ Advanced Mediahe wrote that the news organization believes in “the free and fair exchange of ideas.”

“But when those ideas intersect with hate speech, a line must be drawn,” Kelly wrote.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk defended Adams in posts on the platform, saying the media used to be “racist against non-white people, now it’s racist against whites and Asians.”