Scott Adams, the cartoonist behind the satirical comic strip Dilbert and a conservative commentator, has died aged 68 after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. His ex-wife Shelly Miles announced his death in a tearful livestream on his YouTube channel Real Coffee with Scott Adams.
In the video, Miles read a farewell message from Adams, dated January 1, 2026, in which he said: 'My body fell before my brain. I am of sound mind as I write this.' He expressed hope for entry into heaven and recounted his marriages and accomplishments, including his books, illustrations, and YouTube channel.
Adams revealed in May last year that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, which had spread to his bones. Born in 1957 in Windham, New York, Adams debuted Dilbert in 1989, a comic strip satirising corporate culture that gained rapid popularity and was syndicated in more than 400 newspapers by 1994.
He left his corporate career to pursue cartooning full-time, publishing the bestselling 1996 book The Dilbert Principle and winning the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben award in 1997. His work also expanded into a short animated television series that earned an Emmy nomination.
From 2015 onwards, Adams increasingly focused on conservative political commentary, praising Donald Trump and hosting a daily podcast questioning Covid-19 vaccines and the Holocaust. In February 2023, most US newspapers dropped Dilbert after Adams described Black people as a 'hate group' and urged white people to 'get the hell away' from Black people.
Adams was married twice: first to Shelly Miles from 2006 to 2014, and then to Kristina Basham from 2020 to 2022. He leaves behind no biological children.
