“Dilbert” creator Scott Adams apologized to the victims of the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting this week after he posted an “ill-worded” tweet that used the tragedy to promote his new app.
Soon after a gunman killed three people and wounded 12 others at the California festival, Mr. Adams called for witnesses of the shooting to use his app Interface to get their stories out. The app, created by Mr. Adams‘ WhenHub, allows “subject matter experts” and witnesses to opt to charge journalists for their personal accounts while giving Whenhub a 10% cut, Mr. Adams told The Washington Post.
“If you were a witness to the #GilroyGarlicFestivalshooting please sign on to Interface by WhenHub (free app) and you can set your price to take calls. Use keyword Gilroy,” Mr. Adams tweeted Sunday.
The tweet was swiftly characterized as Mr. Adams trying to profit off a tragedy, but the cartoonist insisted that the very purpose of his app is to disseminate information during a major news event. He told The Post that his similar tweets following a major hurricane and a fatal helicopter crash didn’t receive any blowback.
However, Mr. Adams said Tuesday that he regretted the “set your price” wording.
“I wouldn’t do it the same way again,” he told The New York Times.
Speaking to The Post, Mr. Adams clarified that he only wanted to apologize to the victims of the tragedy, not the general public, for any offense he may have caused with the tweet.
“But I limited my apology to the people who actually are victims of the tragedy,” he said. “If any of them were offended, I of course offered my unreserved apology. I accept fully the criticisms of the people who say this was ill-timed or ill-worded.”
Mr. Adams said the backlash he regularly faces stems from the fact that he’s outspoken in his admiration for President Trump.
“Everything on Twitter is a proxy battle for pro-Trump and anti-Trump. People who are offended — the ‘outrage tourists,’ I call them — go toward the outrage because there’s some payoff for that,” he said. “And because I’ve said good things about Trump, that makes me the next surrogate in their minds that they get to pick off.”
He said he supports Mr. Trump’s “techniques” but not his policies on issues such as health care and immigration.
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