When James Van Der Beek died this week at the age of 48, most mainstream headlines focused on how he was the face of the teen drama “Dawson&#8217;s Creek” in the late 1990s. That’s certainly true. But in the end, what mattered most to the most iconic teen heartthrob happened long after that show aired its finale in 2003.
In 2020, Van Der Beek rejected Hollywood life and did something radical, taking his wife Kimberly and their children and trading Los Angeles for a ranch outside Austin, Texas. At the time, he said it was for the good of his family, not for the applause.
Just after moving to his 36-acre property, the actor told Today Parents: “We were living on this tiny little lot with a tiny backyard. He [then 8-year-old son Joshua] seemed to be like an animal in a cage that was too small.”
A few years later they weren’t missing the fame and glamour. They were enjoying a simpler life.
“We love it. We have a lot more space,” Van Der Beek told Fox News Digital in 2022, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/james-van-der-beek-reflects-on-moving-to-texas-says-return-to-hollywood-would-have-to-fit-around-his-family">reported</a>. “We all need a more immediate connection to nature. It’s been a really, really great move and the kids are really happy.”
“The parks have been amazing,” he continued. “We’ve been going to state parks and the national parks. It’s just one of the benefits of getting out of the big city was getting to a place where we could just have more space right outside our door. It’s a very, it’s a very different life.”
“We watch the sunset,” the actor explained. “We know what phase the moon is in. We can actually see stars, which is a new thing.”
Van Der Beek isn’t the only Hollywood celebrity to leave the bright lights of the city behind. But he is someone who wholeheartedly embraced his new reality and dedicated his life to fatherhood. The actor didn’t brag constantly or post for the likes. Instead, the “Varsity Blues” alum appeared to gain a new appreciation for life. 
Van Der Beek was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in 2023 and shared it with fans one year later. He was optimistic about fighting it, but still took time to reflect on his own mortality.
On his 48th birthday in March 2025, knowing he was in the fight of his life, Van Der Beek posted a video that deserves to be remembered as his final lesson to a culture that loves to pretend people can live forever. 
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<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DG9aMcDOnrJ/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by James Van Der Beek (@vanderjames)</a>
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&#8220;When I was younger, I used to define myself as an actor, which was never really all that fulfilling. And then I became a husband, and that was much better. And then I became a father, and that was the ultimate,” he told social media followers in a clip that has gone viral after his death.
“I could define myself then as a loving, capable, strong, supportive husband, father, provider, steward of the land that we&#8217;re so lucky to live on,” he said. “And for a long time, that felt like a really good definition to the question, &#8216;Who am I?&#8217; &#8216;What am I?&#8217;”
Van Der Beek went on with some deep reflections.
&#8220;And then this year, I had to look my own mortality in the eye. I had to come nose to nose with death. And all of those definitions that I cared so deeply about were stripped from me,” he continued. “I was away for treatment. I could no longer be a husband that was helpful to my wife. I could no longer be a father who could pick up his kids and put them to bed and be there for them. I could not be a provider because I wasn&#8217;t working. I couldn&#8217;t even be a steward of the land, because at times I was too weak to prune all the trees during the window that you&#8217;re supposed to prune them.”
The answer to his struggle came through meditation, prayers, and a spiritual journey that deepened his faith, he said.
&#8220;And so I was faced with the question, if I am just a too skinny, weak guy alone in an apartment with cancer, what am I?&#8221; he asked. &#8220;I meditated, and the answer came through: I am worthy of God&#8217;s love. Simply because I exist. And if I&#8217;m worthy of God&#8217;s love, shouldn&#8217;t I also be worthy of my own? And the same is true for you.”
He spoke openly on multiple occasions about how cancer transformed his relationship with faith, plus how it changed his whole life.
&#8220;Before cancer, God was something I tried to fit into my life as much as possible,&#8221; Van Der Beek <a href="https://extratv.com/2026/02/12/james-van-der-beek-called-his-cancer-a-gift-in-his-final-interview/">said</a> during a &#8220;Today&#8221; show appearance in December. &#8220;After cancer, I feel like a connection to God, whatever that is, is kind of the whole point of this exercise on this planet.&#8221;
He also called his diagnosis a gift that would help him grow as a person. “I went into shock … One of the things I was really lucky about was as soon as I heard the news, I thought, ‘This is going to be the best thing that ever happened to me,’&#8221; he said.
The actor explained, “I had this little voice in my head that said, ‘You’re going to make changes in your life that you would never, ever make if you didn’t have this extreme of a diagnosis. And it’s going to add healthy, happy years to your life.’”
Van Der Beek used his platform to share real wisdom — not curated self-help platitudes, but insights from a man facing his own demise. He posted about embracing his family and living in gratitude for every day he was given. Until the end, he showed that a terminal diagnosis can be met with strength and stoicism.
When his wife of 15 years announced his death on Wednesday, she wrote that he met his final days &#8220;with courage, faith, and grace.&#8221; Anyone following his journey saw exactly that as Van Der Beek consistently chose inner peace over bitterness and despair.
What others said about him following his death is also a testament to his character. Van Der Beek received loving tributes from friends and former colleagues, with his &#8220;Dawson&#8217;s Creek&#8221; costar Katie Holmes <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/katie-holmes-shares-heartfelt-tribute-to-dawsons-creek-co-star-james-van-der-beek">referring to</a> his life as &#8220;the journey of a hero.&#8221; Such accolades are to be expected from loved ones, but the most telling one came from his ex-wife, Heather McComb.
&#8220;James was a beautiful soul filled with so much light, love, talent, humor, depth, sensitivity, knowledge and a deep love of God that shined through him,&#8221; she <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DUqoT1Dj0cs/">posted</a> on Instagram. &#8220;He shined so bright yet was so humble and human. Always searching, always growing, always going deeper, always chasing things outside his comfort zone.&#8221;
James Van Der Beek&#8217;s life after Hollywood is the antithesis of everything celebrities are known for. He had six kids despite elites telling us children are burdens. He was devoted to his wife. He ditched Hollywood for Texas. And then he talked about God and faith even when it wasn’t cool.
The world lost a good person this week, but to his six children, he leaves a legacy that lasts forever. To the rest of us, he leaves some hope that Hollywood is still hiding a few gems.

James Van Der Beek

James Van Der Beek Was One Of The Good Ones

Celebrities

Death

Entertainment

Hollywood

Professor Gad Saad coined the term &#8220;suicidal empathy&#8221; to describe a kind of empathy so extreme it ends up harming you. 
A prime example would be the way the West has approached immigration from third-world countries. You feel bad for people. You open your borders. A plethora of people come in and harm your civilization.
But now, it seems like we are moving beyond suicidal empathy into what I would call “homicidal empathy.” That would be exemplified by your empathy for someone getting them killed.
There’s a good example in New York City with Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who promised, “We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
That collectivist warmth is manifesting in people freezing to death on the streets of New York City. Despite all of Mamdani’s photo ops showing him shoveling the snow (for a man who cannot bench press 135 pounds once), I don&#8217;t think the people of New York can count on his shoveling skills.
What he usually shovels is horse crap.
Mamdani has embraced a hands-off policy with regard to homelessness. This was the policy in California. It remains the policy in places like Los Angeles. This policy is empathetic toward the homeless to the point where you&#8217;re killing the homeless.
The policy argues that they should be able to live out on the streets, that it is a form of cruelty and intolerance to involuntarily commit people who are usually drug-addicted or schizophrenic, people who can&#8217;t take care of themselves. Somehow, it is more empathetic to leave them out on the streets to get scabies or to die in the cold.
This seems to be the way the left-wing brain is working in Mamdani-land, California, and other liberal areas of the country. 18 people have died in the cold snap that has hit New York City.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2367-mamdani-leaves-homeless-to-freeze-to-death?elementPosition=5&amp;row=6&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Brian Stettin, who served as a senior advisor to former Mayor Eric Adams in his administration, told the New York Post, “When a person is in imminent danger, there&#8217;s no debate. Whatever ideological divides we have should not have any impact on these policies during a Code Blue.”
A mumbling homeless woman who braved some Antarctic temperatures was featured on the front cover of the Post on Monday.
The Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/02/08/us-news/mumbling-homeless-woman-left-to-spend-night-on-nyc-sidewalk/">reported</a>:
<blockquote>The unidentified woman was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, slippers and two blankets as she clipped her nails, put lotion on her hands and talked to herself while hunkered down on East 34th Street across from NYU Langone Hospital as temperatures neared 0 degrees early Sunday. She refused repeated offers for help from EMS workers and cops — who explained to The Post they had to leave the shivering vagrant in the extremely dangerous bone-chilling weather because she could answer basic questions — a factor that helps meet the threshold of Dem Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s controversial homeless policies.</blockquote>
That’s Mamdani&#8217;s shtick: If you can answer basic questions such as “What day of the week is it?” “What is your name?”, then they will leave you out on the streets to freeze. 
Mamdani held a press conference over the weekend. “Stay warm. Stay inside if you can. And please, stay safe,” he said.
“You&#8217;ve implored the people on the streets who feel more comfortable on the streets to come inside. But what happens if they don&#8217;t at this point? &#8230;20 minutes out in the cold could lead to a fatality. So are you not using as a last resort at this point to bring them inside and volunteer, even if just a few hours doesn&#8217;t lead to a placement?” a reporter asked.
“Involuntary transport continues to be used in the same manner it was as the prior administration,” Mamdani replied. “And thus far, we have seen clinical determinations of a number of New Yorkers who have been deemed to be a danger to themselves or to others. And sometimes that designation comes from an assessment that a New Yorker is not adequately clothed, given the weather that they are living through in that moment. And that is going to continue to be part of the assessments that outreach workers are making over the course of tomorrow or the next day.”
Mamdani’s last resort policy says that you can only be forced indoors if you are deemed a danger to yourself or others. The problem, of course, is that if you are Zohran Mamdani and you have spent your entire career ripping down cops and treating people as though they&#8217;re committing a human rights violation by pushing people indoors, people might be a little hesitant to actually take responsibility for calling somebody a “danger to themselves or others.”
The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/02/10/us-news/mamdani-wont-budge-on-involuntary-removal-of-homeless-new-yorkers-from-streets-as-cold-deaths-reach-18/">reported</a>:
<blockquote>Down in Baltimore, Mayor Brandon Scott — whom Mamdani once praised for his crime reduction efforts — late last month called the cold a life-or-death issue and ordered the police department to take people off the streets even if they were refusing services. “That direction order came from me because we cannot allow folks to be out in this kind of weather,” Scott said.</blockquote>
The fact that this has become a matter of public controversy is totally insane.
Zoran Mamdani apparently has so much sympathy for people. I&#8217;m going to put it out there: If you are out on the streets sleeping on the sidewalk, that is not a housing problem in the middle of a cold snap. That is a crazy problem if other options are given to you. No sane and rational person, by definition, who is not a danger to themselves, is sleeping out on the street in zero-degree weather. That is not a thing that sane and rational people do unless they are Arctic explorers of some type.
This comes down to Mamdani’s bizarro world empathy that legitimately gets people killed. This sort of policy, when you apply it to crime, leads to more criminals on the streets. When you apply it to homelessness, it leads to more homeless people on the streets.
The empathy that you have for the purported victim of America&#8217;s “evil, racist, abusive” system leads to the very people you are supposedly trying to help sometimes dying.
On February 6, the New York Post reported that Mamdani was still refusing to clear homeless camps and forcibly remove people from the streets, despite a rising death toll and a fresh snap of deadly deep freeze. Instead, he implored people to come inside.
If people refuse to come inside in the middle of zero-degree weather while living on the streets, it will not be solved by you imploring them.
City Journal <a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/zohran-mamdani-homeless-deaths-cold-weather">reported</a>:
<blockquote>During last year’s campaign, Mamdani promised to end a program initiated by his predecessor, Eric Adams, that deploys clinicians, backed by police officers, to assess people’s ability to care for themselves and, if necessary, to transport them involuntarily to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. He repeatedly said that involuntary commitment was a “last resort,” preferring instead an approach that would have civilian workers “help that person navigate their housing options.” He has also disavowed dismantling homeless encampments. </blockquote>
That was a proactive move by Adams to determine whether somebody ought to be on the streets or not. And Mamdani wanted to kill that. I guess the presumption was that unless they were in the throes of some sort of crime, they should never have an engagement with law enforcement.
The message being sent to the homeless is, basically, you have a right to live on the streets. And the message being sent to public service workers, cops, and mental health professionals is that you&#8217;re going to be called on the carpet if you make the mistake of bringing somebody in.
It&#8217;s nuts, it&#8217;s bad, and it&#8217;s stupid.
It&#8217;s indicative of a deeper brain rot that has set in large parts of the Left: That empathy amounts to humoring people in their delusions, even if it’s dangerous to them.

New York Governor Hochul Holds Press Conference Highlighting Her Administration’s “Let Them Build” Agenda

Mamdani Leaves Homeless To Freeze To Death 

Democratic Socialism

Homeless

Homelessness

New York

New York City

Opinion

Zohran Mamdani

New Yorkers struggling with mental health crises are told to call 988, the suicide-prevention hotline. But on February 6, Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Medical Aid in Dying Act into law, authorizing doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill patients. The message is stark: some lives must be saved, others may be ended.
Physician-assisted suicide (PAS), known euphemistically to advocates as Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) or “Death with Dignity,” describes a practice where patients self-administer a lethal dose of drugs under the direction of a physician. The practice is legal in thirteen states and Washington, D.C.
Before Governor Hochul penned her signature last Friday, advocates for PAS were sure to be shoving pro-suicide talking points down Governor Hochul’s throat: the PAS lobby claims that PAS is “compassionate,” promotes “autonomy” and “choice,” and offers “death with dignity” to the terminally ill.
These claims could not be further from the truth. To begin, the PAS lobby’s “Death with Dignity” moniker is dishonest. Suicide is cheaper than quality end-of-life care options like hospice, in-home care, and diligent pain management — in crude economic terms, a dead patient frees up a hospital bed, saves morphine, and cuts slack to insurance companies. When assisted suicide is the norm and hospice care is an exception, death loses dignity and gains a dangerous price tag. 
Further, PAS is anything but “compassionate.” In the Netherlands, where euthanasia is available on demand, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27833206/">senior citizens</a> “are so fearful of being killed by doctors that they carry cards saying they do not want euthanasia.” In Canada, <a href="https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/canada/maid-for-children-and-teens-canada-expands-eugenics-program/">minors may seek PAS for any reason</a> without notifying their parents. The Canadian government also offers PAS to people “<a href="https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/corruption/too-poor-to-continue-living-with-dignity-canadian-eugenics/">too poor to live with dignity</a>.”
While the United States, unlike Canada and Europe, has demonstrated a commitment to limiting PAS to terminal patients, concerns about a “slippery slope” are not unfounded — empirical and anecdotal evidence suggest PAS is already slipping into disrepair in the United States. In Colorado, 510 people were given prescriptions for <a href="https://www.liveaction.org/news/woman-struggling-anorexia-assisted-suicide">assisted suicide</a> drugs in 2024, with at least 18 approved solely due to &#8220;severe protein calorie malnutrition,&#8221; which could be caused by <a href="https://nrlc.org/nrlnewstoday/2025/10/colorado-gave-over-500-people-assisted-suicide-drugs-solely-for-eating-disorders-in-2024/">anorexia</a>, eating disorders, as well as cancer, HIV, and intestinal diseases.
As far as the “autonomy” argument goes, PAS advocates misunderstand the power of a doctor’s white coat. While patient autonomy exists as a core medical ethic to stress the importance of informed consent and non-coercion, no patient, especially a vulnerable one, is truly “autonomous” as the word connotes.
With the smoker developing lung cancer, a doctor must leverage his expertise to motivate him to quit smoking, and with the woman exhibiting symptoms of cholecystitis, a physician should tell her that her gallbladder must be removed. In every exam room, doctors have a unique professional mandate to suggest or inform lifestyle changes, surgical or medical — but suggesting and prescribing physician-assisted suicide crosses a critical red line.
Suggesting suicide is an abuse of a doctor’s oath: “I will do no harm.” To a vulnerable patient facing a devastating terminal diagnosis, a doctor’s word on suicide is suggestive and coercive.
Top to bottom, physician-assisted suicide violates patient trust and physician integrity, offends the innate dignity and equality of all human beings regardless of their physical or mental state, normalizes suicide, disincentivizes public and private investment in palliative care options, and gives rise to a slippery slope where suicide drugs may become available to the general public.
Real death with dignity is 1) embracing human life until its natural end, 2) diligent pain management in terminal patients’ final days or hours, 3) ensuring every suffering person of their inherent worth and dignity despite a terminal diagnosis, and 4) innovations in high-quality palliative care, hospice, and in-home care. 
Suicide is not the ethical or medical answer to fear, pain, or suffering at the end of life. A physician’s responsibility is to diligently address a dying patient’s fears, affirm the value of their life until its natural end, and assure the patient that their symptoms and pain will be vigilantly treated.
Physician-assisted suicide is not “death with dignity.” It is cruelty to the terminally ill, disrespect and disregard for the elderly, and convenience for financial stakeholders in the medical industry.
New York has now joined 12 states in breaking the historic commitments of the Hippocratic Oath, where doctors promise, “I will use those dietary regimens which will benefit my patients according to my greatest ability and judgment, and I will do no harm or injustice to them. I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan.” Governor Hochul: suicide is not dignified.
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Hannah Lape is Legislative Strategist for the <a href="https://concernedwomen.org/">Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee</a>, dedicated to promoting Biblical values and Constitutional principles in public policy. 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
* * *
Correction: A previous version of this article stated: &#8220;<a href="https://nrlc.org/nrlnewstoday/2025/10/colorado-gave-over-500-people-assisted-suicide-drugs-solely-for-eating-disorders-in-2024/">In Colorado, over five hundred anorexic women</a> were prescribed suicide drugs under the direction of a doctor who classifies anorexia as “terminal.” While it&#8217;s true that over 500 people were administered prescriptions for assisted suicide in Colorado in 2024, they were not all exclusively patients suffering from anorexia. The reference has been updated.

Hochul’s ‘Death With Dignity’ Is Neither

Hochul’s 'Death With Dignity' Is Neither

Assisted Suicide

Doctors

Actor James Van Der Beek, best known for his starring role in the 1990s teen drama “Dawson’s Creek,” has died at the age of 48.
His wife, Kimberly, announced the news on Instagram Wednesday. “Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” the mother of six shared.
“There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend,” the post said. 
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<a style="color: #c9c8cd;font-family: Arial,sans-serif;font-size: 14px;font-style: normal;font-weight: normal;line-height: 17px;text-decoration: none" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DUoR_x4EkTm/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by James Van Der Beek (@vanderjames)</a>
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The actor was diagnosed with Stage 3 colorectal cancer in 2023 and has been candid about sharing his experiences since publicly revealing his diagnosis the following year. Last September, he had to cancel an appearance at a scheduled “Dawson’s Creek” reunion event due to his ongoing illness.
Van Der Beek was born in Connecticut in 1977. As a child, he had dreams of becoming a professional athlete, but changed focus after an injury. He scored his career-making role on “Dawson’s Creek” in 1998 alongside up-and-comers Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, and Joshua Jackson.
The actor had several other television roles, including a fictionalized version of himself on the cult classic sitcom “Don&#8217;t Trust the B&#8212;- in Apartment 23” (2012–2013), and an FBI agent in “CSI: Cyber.” He also had recurring guest roles on “How I Met Your Mother” and “Pose.” 
Van Der Beek’s film credits include “Varsity Blues” (1998), “Texas Rangers” (2001), “The Rules of Attraction” (2002), “Formosa Betrayed” (2009), “Labor Day” (2013), and “Bad Hair” (2020).
Last year, Van Der Beek reflected on what his cancer battle had taught him, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dawsons-creek-star-reflects-on-cancer-battle-i-am-worthy-of-gods-love">reported</a>. 
“I could define myself as a loving, capable, strong, supportive husband, father, provider, steward of the land that we’re so lucky to live on,” he told Instagram followers at the time. “And for a long time, that felt like a really good definition of the question, ‘Who am I? What am I?&#8217;”
“And then this year, I had to look my own mortality in the eye,” Van Der Beek continued. “I had to come nose to nose with death. And all of those definitions that I cared so deeply about were stripped from me. I was away for treatment, so I could no longer be a husband who is helpful to my wife.”
“So often we define ourselves by our roles in life or by what we do, but what if those things change? Who are we when it’s just us, alone, with nothing external to anchor us to a particular identity? And I meditated and the answer came through,” Van Der Beek went on. “I am worthy of God’s love, simply because I exist. And if I’m worthy of God’s love, shouldn’t I also be worthy of my own? And the same is true for you.”
Van Der Beek is survived by his wife of 15 years and their six children.

‘Dawson’s Creek’ Star James Van Der Beek Dies At 48

Movies

Television

The cause of death for legendary “Home Alone” and “Schitt’s Creek” actress Catherine O’Hara has been revealed.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed on Monday that O&#8217;Hara died after suffering from a pulmonary embolism, per <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2026/02/09/catherine-ohara-cause-of-death/">TMZ</a>. It was also noted that the actress had rectal cancer, which was listed as the underlying cause of the embolism. O’Hara was 71 years old at the time of her death on January 30.
The death certificate said O’Hara was cremated and that her remains were given to her husband, the outlet noted. 
The iconic star was best known for her roles in movies such as “Beetlejuice” (1988), “Home Alone” (1990), “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” (1992), “Waiting for Guffman” (1996), and “Best in Show” (2000). O’Hara also starred in the cult classic TV comedy “Schitt’s Creek,” which earned her the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.
O’Hara’s manager confirmed the news of her death, saying at the time that she died following a “brief illness.”
O’Hara had a long and varied Hollywood career spanning TV and movies, mostly in comedies. Her most recent project was the Apple TV+ series “The Studio” alongside Seth Rogen. Her role in the series earned her an Emmy nomination in 2025.
The Canadian actress was born in Toronto in 1954 as the sixth of seven children. Like so many other comedic actors, she got her start at the Second City Theater in Toronto alongside legends such as Dan Aykroyd, Joe Flaherty, Gilda Radner, and Eugene Levy. She became a staple character before moving on to films and scripted television.
O’Hara met her husband, production designer Bo Welch, on the set of “Beetlejuice” in 1988. The pair wed in 1992 and had two sons: Matthew in 1994 and Luke in 1997.
O’Hara stayed close with her “Home Alone” co-star Macaulay Culkin for decades. After her passing, he posted on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DUJTe8rEmO4/">Instagram</a>, “Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later.”
Her longtime collaborator Eugene Levy also mourned the loss. “Words seem inadequate to express the loss I feel today,” he said in a <a href="https://ew.com/eugene-levy-catherine-o-hara-tribute-after-her-death-11896831">statement</a> to Entertainment Weekly. “I had the honor of knowing and working with the great Catherine O’Hara for over 50 years. From our beginnings on the Second City stage, to SCTV, to the movies we did with Chris Guest, to our six glorious years on Schitt’s Creek, I cherished our working relationship, but most of all our friendship.”
He added, “I will miss her. My heart goes out to Bo, Matthew, Luke, and the entire O’Hara family.”

Catherine O’Hara

Catherine O’Hara’s Cause Of Death Revealed

Catherine O'Hara's Cause Of Death Revealed

Brad Arnold, the founder and lead singer of the popular band 3 Doors Down, has died at the age of 47.
The band released a <a href="https://x.com/3doorsdown/status/2020209301915390037/photo/1">statement</a> to X on Saturday. &#8220;With his beloved wife Jennifer and his family by his side, he passed away peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, in his sleep after his courageous battle with cancer.”
“As a founding member, vocalist, and original drummer of 3 Doors Down, Brad helped redefine mainstream rock music, blending post-grunge accessibility with emotionally direct songwriting and lyrical themes that resonated with everyday listeners,” the statement continued.
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— 3 Doors Down (@3doorsdown) <a href="https://twitter.com/3doorsdown/status/2020209301915390037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2026</a></blockquote>
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“Brad’s songwriting became a cultural touchstone for a generation, producing some of the most enduring hits of the 2000s, including the band’s breakout hit, ‘Kryptonite,’ which he wrote in his math class when he was just 15 years old. His music reverberated far beyond the stage, creating moments of connection, joy, faith, and shared experiences that will live on long after the stages he performed on.”
“Above all, he was a devoted husband to Jennifer, and his kindness, humor, and generosity touched everyone fortunate enough to know him. Those closest to him will remember not only his talent, but his warmth, humility, faith, and deep love for his family and friends,” the statement concluded, adding the family is “deeply grateful” for the love and support.
“He will be deeply missed and forever remembered.”
Arnold <a href="https://www.fox29.com/news/brad-arnold-3-doors-down-cancer-tour">announced in May 2025</a> that he had been diagnosed with Stage 4 clear cell renal cell carcinoma and that 3 Doors Down would be canceling their summer tour. Despite the serious diagnosis, the singer said he had “no fear.”
While not overtly political, 3 Doors Down played at the &#8220;Make America Great Again Welcome Celebration&#8221; ahead of President Trump’s inauguration in 2017. When asked about playing the event when other musicians steered clear, Arnold <a href="https://loudwire.com/3-doors-down-brad-arnold-donald-trump-inauguration-concert-its-all-about-america-were-proud-to-be-here/">told</a> reporters, &#8220;Man, it&#8217;s all about America. We&#8217;re proud to be here.&#8221;
&#8220;We love America, man. This is gonna be a great experience. It&#8217;s a great honor to be here and we&#8217;re proud to be here,” he added.
The singer struggled with alcoholism in the past, but later committed to sobriety and became an outspoken Christian, even sharing that message from the stage. In August 2024, he made headlines for preaching the Gospel during a concert in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Before performing &#8220;Away from the Sun,&#8221; Arnold addressed the audience, <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/3-doors-down-lead-singer-stops-concert-to-share-the-gospel.html">saying</a>: “I feel like I can identify with this song more than most of our songs. &#8230; This world surrounds [us with] a message we’ll never be good enough, we’ll never be strong enough, we’ll never be beautiful enough, we’ll never be rich enough.”
“My friends, I just want to take a second to tell you, that’s an absolute lie. You are loved. You are enough, and you will win. Not only can you win, but you will win. You’ll always be enough for one reason. And that’s because Jesus Christ loves you.”

Brad Arnold

Brad Arnold, 3 Doors Down Singer Who Played Trump’s Inauguration, Dies At 47

Music

rock music

U.S.

The following is an edited transcript excerpt from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1904-zohran-mamdani-freezes-16-new-yorkers-to-death?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">The Michael Knowles Show</a>.
* * *
Zohran Mamdani just made a really sad and totally predictable announcement.
When the recent winter cold front made it to New York, it was not nearly as bad as the ice storm Nashville residents experienced. There was very little ice in New York, mostly just snow. Nevertheless, 16 homeless New Yorkers died during that brief little cold snap.
Here is the new mayor of New York:
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Mayor Mamdani confirms sixteen deaths during dangerously cold weather in NYC <a href="https://t.co/pQ0L9i5Yzz">https://t.co/pQ0L9i5Yzz</a> <a href="https://t.co/zHAPfvu95u">pic.twitter.com/zHAPfvu95u</a>
— New York Post (@nypost) <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/2018388455508656233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 2, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Credit: @nypost/X.com
Mayor Mamdani says,
<blockquote>A severe cold front continues to bear down on our city. Today is our 11th consecutive day of below freezing weather, and we could very well be in the middle of the longest period of consecutive sub-32-degree weather in our city&#8217;s entire history. Without temperatures rising above freezing, snow has hardened into blocks of ice. But the greatest danger posed by the sustained cold is to vulnerable New Yorkers who remain exposed to the elements. As of this morning, 16 of our fellow New Yorkers have passed away outside during this brutal stretch of cold. In 13 of these cases, preliminary findings indicate that hypothermia played a role, and three of these deaths appear to be overdose deaths. We await final results from the medical examiner&#8217;s office and will inform New Yorkers as we learn more. Each of these lives lost is a tragedy. My heart was with the family of those mourning their loved ones.</blockquote>
Mamdani blames the deaths mostly on nature, though he admits a few of them were drug deaths. 
Unlike other areas of the country where recent ice storms knocked out power for weeks, New York City is built for cold weather. Cold weather hits New York every single year. New Yorkers knows how to deal with cold weather, especially when they have competent management and government.
The people who died in New York did not die because their power went out. New York didn&#8217;t lose power. They died because they were left to die on the streets. Why were they left to die on the streets? Is this just some immutable characteristic of New York? What can we do? Throw our arms up in the air? A long-standing problem?
No, it&#8217;s not.
They were left to die on the streets specifically because Zohran Mamdani, who has been in office for just one month now, left them to die on the streets. In fact campaigned to leave them to die on the streets.
Don&#8217;t take my word for it. Here is CBS News.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Mamdani says he&#039;ll end homeless encampment sweeps in NYC" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CWjUfoi6YCg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Credit: @CBSNewYork/YouTube.com
The reporter states,
<blockquote>Local New York Mayor Alexander Mamdani says that he will end the Adams administration&#8217;s practice of removing homeless encampments from city sidewalks. But advocates argue it will be a step backwards for the city&#8217;s quality of life. Ali Bauman questioned the mayor-elect about this tonight. For the past three years, the NYPD has been systematically removing homeless encampments from New York City sidewalks, a practice mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani vows to end once he takes office — vows to end it.</blockquote>
This is Mamdani campaigning and saying we are intentionally going to leave the homeless — who are almost entirely drug addicts and mentally ill — on the streets. And this is supposedly going to be compassionate. That&#8217;s a change of policy from the previous administration, which just left office.
A little history of New York City during the 1970s and 80s may be helpful. Back then, there were a lot of bums, a lot of criminals, and a lot of homeless people on the streets. Then-mayor Rudy Giuliani came in in the 1990s and got rid of all that. He said, No, no, no — if you&#8217;re homeless, you need to go to shelters or we&#8217;re going to arrest you, but we&#8217;re not going to leave you on the streets.
After he was mayor of New York, Giuliani reiterated the same idea about the Occupy Wall Street protests. When people set up encampments all over the city, he said, No, no, no, you can&#8217;t do this. Sleeping on the street is a dysfunctional act which harms society and the individual.
In other words, letting the homeless stay on the street is contrary to the common good.
It&#8217;s not just that letting the homeless stay on the street is good for the homeless but bad for the rest of the New Yorkers who don&#8217;t want to see them — that&#8217;s how Mamdani is presenting it. The real argument, however, is no, it&#8217;s actually bad for everyone. Because it&#8217;s bad for the law-abiding New Yorkers who don&#8217;t want criminals and drug addicts and crazy people running around the streets all the time.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1904-zohran-mamdani-freezes-16-new-yorkers-to-death?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show</a></h3>
It’s also bad for the homeless because they&#8217;re susceptible to crime — susceptible to being assaulted or raped or killed. And they&#8217;re also vulnerable to the elements. It&#8217;s very, very dangerous to leave them on the streets year round, especially in the winter. And now we see the results.  This is the “warmth of collectivism.”
This is the compassion that Mamdani has promised. Leaving 16 New Yorkers dead during a totally predictable, minor cold front. And he even gives away the game in his speech by trying to mitigate his culpability by saying, “In 13 of these cases, preliminary findings indicate that hypothermia played a role, and three of these deaths appear to be overdose deaths.”
They basically froze like Jack Nicholson at the end of “The Shining.”
He then seems to avoid taking responsibility by saying, “&#8230;and three of these deaths appear to be overdose deaths.”
Like that&#8217;s better. Like it’s good that they chose to die, as if they were consenting adults. First of all, you can&#8217;t consent when you&#8217;re crazy, or when you&#8217;re addicted to all kinds of vices, or when you&#8217;re underage, or when there are all sorts of things that compromise our consent.
So Mayor Mamdani&#8217;s whole policy is based on a misconception of freedom — what freedom really is. Like all liberals, he thinks freedom is just neutrality in choosing. Well, some people choose not to do heroin, but some people choose to do heroin, and who are we to say which is the better choice?
It&#8217;s a misconception of freedom. It&#8217;s a misconception of the common good. It&#8217;s a misconception of what&#8217;s good for everybody. The common good is not just the random collection of all the individual goods of people, some of which are contrary to each other. In this kind of utilitarian calculation that tries to lead to the greatest utility for the greatest number, the common good is what we all share — what is good for all of us, what is not diminished by any individual good.
It’s also a misunderstanding of compassion. It is not compassionate to just ignore people. It&#8217;s funny because the Left accuses the Right of this: you just ignore people. You retreat to your nice neighborhoods and your penthouses and your money, and you ignore your common man. You don&#8217;t think you&#8217;re your brother&#8217;s keeper.
Sometimes the Right is guilty of that, especially the more Libertarian Right. The Left is just as guilty of that. Oh, just leave people to their degradation. Leave people to their vices. Leave people to their destructive behaviors — be it sexual ideologies, be it just license more broadly, be it with regard to living on the street — just leave them there.
It&#8217;s fine. You know, who are you to intervene? Who am I?
Well, I&#8217;m a reasonable person, and I&#8217;m a member of society, and I&#8217;m a citizen. And the consequences of all three of those misconceptions from Zohran Mamdani are that 16 people die on the street, whether from drugs or from exposure. That&#8217;s the “warmth of collectivism.”
What would have been more compassionate for the homeless: Zohran Mamdani, who says all sorts of sweet things about the homeless and leaves them to die on the street, or Rudy Giuliani, who talks a little tougher, who seems a little bit meaner, but who protects those people?
Where&#8217;s the real compassion?
That&#8217;s it. We&#8217;re one month into Mamdani — one month in — and you&#8217;ve got homeless ice cubes lining the streets of New York, some of which also have heroin and fentanyl in their blood.
We&#8217;re in for a real treat with Mamdani.

NYC Mamdani Holds News Conference On Healthcare At New York City Health Clinic

The Deadly Consequences Of Zohran Mamdani’s Homelessness Policy

Liberals

Snow

Winter Storm Fern

Emmy Award-winning actress Catherine O&#8217;Hara has died at the age of 71.
The iconic star was best known for her roles in movies such as “Beetlejuice” (1988), “Home Alone” (1990), “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” (1992), “Waiting for Guffman” (1996), and “Best in Show” (2000). O’Hara also starring in the cult classic TV comedy &#8220;Schitt&#8217;s Creek,&#8221; which earned her the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.
O&#8217;Hara&#8217;s manager confirmed the news of her death Friday, per <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/actress-catherine-ohara-dies-71/story?id=129711879">ABC News</a>, but no other details were immediately available.
O&#8217;Hara had a long and varied Hollywood career spanning across TV and movies, mostly in the comedy genre. Her most recent project was the Apple TV+ series &#8220;The Studio&#8221; along with Seth Rogen. Her role in the series earned her an Emmy nomination in 2025.
The Canadian actress was born in Toronto in 1954 as the sixth of seven children. Like so many other comedic actors, she got her start at the Second City Theater in Toronto alongside legends such as Dan Aykroyd, Joe Flaherty, Gilda Radner, and Eugene Levy. She became a staple character before moving on to films and scripted television.
O&#8217;Hara met her husband, production designer Bo Welch, on the set of &#8220;Beetlejuice&#8221; in 1988. The pair wed in 1992 and had two sons: Matthew in 1994 and Luke in 1997.
O&#8217;Hara stayed close with her &#8220;Home Alone&#8221; co-star Macaulay Culkin for decades and was there when he <a href="https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/home-star-macaulay-culkin-honored-walk-fame-ceremony-105315227">received his star</a> on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023.
The actress said &#8220;Home Alone&#8221; got her recognized plenty, but the massive fandom of &#8220;Schitt&#8217;s Creek&#8221; was surprising.
&#8220;I used to mostly get people named Kevin who&#8217;d come up to me and ask me to yell &#8216;Kevin!&#8217; in their faces,&#8221; O&#8217;Hara <a href="https://people.com/catherine-ohara-schitts-creek-star-dies-71-8659396">told</a> People in 2020. &#8220;Now it&#8217;s mostly about Moira and &#8216;Schitt&#8217;s Creek.&#8217; I&#8217;ve never gotten this kind of attention in my life. It&#8217;s crazy.&#8221;

Iconic ‘Home Alone’ Actress Catherine O’Hara Dead At 71

Winter Storm Fern is <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/winter-weather/live-blog/live-updates-winter-storm-freezing-rain-snow-rcna255871">responsible</a> for at least 17 deaths so far, with fatalities reported in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Kansas, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Arkansas.
Officials in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Louisiana have each reported three deaths. Mississippi and Texas have reported two deaths each. The other states have reported one death each, per officials.
The Louisiana Department of Health confirmed that an 86-year-old man died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves also confirmed two weather-related fatalities from the winter storm, per NBC News. Ohio police announced a tragic incident in which a snowmobiler was struck and killed by a plow truck.
<a href="https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/deadly-historic-winter-storm-ice-power-outages-south-snow-northeast">Fox Weather</a> reported on the death of a 16-year-old girl in Frisco, Texas. The teenager died after a sledding crash, and another teenager is in critical condition. Local police said the two were being pulled by an SUV when the sled hit a tree.
In Pennsylvania, the coroner&#8217;s office said three people died in three separate medical incidents while they were cleaning up snow on Sunday, according to Fox Weather. The outlet also reported that a Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority snowplow struck a married couple who were on a walk. The wife died from her injuries.
In New York, several deaths are being investigated as potentially weather-related, so the number of dead could rise.
The Northeast is getting the last bit of snowfall from the storm, but the bitter cold temperatures aren&#8217;t moving out.
According to The Weather Channel, the cold could last well into next week. The National Weather Service has issued extreme cold alerts in parts of the Midwest, South, and Ohio Valley as the frigid air arrives.
More than a dozen low-temperature records were broken Monday morning. Some of the cities that dropped to their lowest temperatures include: New Orleans at 27 degrees, San Antonio and Austin at 19 degrees, Tulsa at 0 degrees, and Springfield, Missouri, at a record -11 degrees.
The Arctic blast will refreeze existing ice and snow, making power outages worse, especially in the South, where ice has been the biggest threat.
The cold temperatures are devastating to regions of the country dealing with power outages. There are more than 800,000 people without power, including 250,000 in Tennessee alone.
In Mississippi, more than 145,750 people are without power. Louisiana isn&#8217;t far behind, with 117,325 customers still in the dark. Texas has nearly 50,000 without power.

Credit: Jon Cherry via Getty Images

Death Toll Rising From Winter Storm As Parts Of Country Remain In Sub-Freezing Temperatures

cold temperatures

Severe Weather

winter weather

At least 5,000 people have been killed in protests in Iran, including about 500 security personnel, an Iranian official in the region said on Sunday, citing verified figures and accusing &#8220;terrorists and armed rioters&#8221; of killing &#8220;innocent Iranians.&#8221;
Nationwide protests erupted on December 28 over economic hardship and swelled over two weeks into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule &#8211; resulting in the deadliest unrest since Iran&#8217;s 1979 Islamic revolution.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene if protesters continued to be killed on the streets or were executed. In a social media post on Friday, he thanked Tehran&#8217;s leaders, saying they had called off scheduled executions of 800 people.
A day later, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a public speech branded Trump a &#8220;criminal&#8221; for the casualties he inflicted on Iran by supporting protesters.
&#8220;We will not drag the country into war, but we will not let domestic or international criminals go unpunished,&#8221; Khamenei said, acknowledging &#8220;several thousand deaths&#8221; that he blamed on &#8220;terrorists and rioters&#8221; linked to the U.S. and Israel.
Iran&#8217;s judiciary indicated that executions may go ahead.
&#8220;A series of actions have been identified as Mohareb, which is among the most severe Islamic punishments,&#8221; Iranian judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir told a press conference on Sunday.
Mohareb, an Islamic legal term meaning to wage war against God, is punishable by death under Iranian law.
Trump said in an interview with Politico on Saturday: &#8220;it&#8217;s time to look for new leadership in Iran.&#8221;
U.S.-based rights group HRANA said on Saturday the death toll had reached 3,308, with another 4,382 cases under review. It said it had confirmed more than 24,000 arrests.
The Iranian official said the verified death toll was unlikely to &#8220;increase sharply,&#8221; adding &#8220;Israel and armed groups abroad&#8221; had supported and equipped those taking to the streets.
The clerical establishment regularly blames unrest on foreign enemies, including the U.S. and Israel, an arch foe of the Islamic Republic which launched military strikes in June.
The violent crackdown appears to have broadly quelled protests, according to residents and state media.
One resident in Tehran said he had witnessed riot police directly shooting at a group of protesters, who were mostly young men and women. Videos circulating on social media, some of which have been verified by Reuters, have shown security forces violently cracking down on demonstrations across the country.
The Iranian official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, also said some of the heaviest clashes and highest number of deaths were in the Iranian Kurdish areas in the country&#8217;s northwest.
Kurdish separatists have been active there and flare-ups have been among the most violent in past periods of unrest.
Three sources told Reuters on January 14 that armed Kurdish separatist groups sought to cross the border into Iran from Iraq in a sign of foreign entities potentially seeking to take advantage of instability.
&#8220;I am against this regime and have taken part in protests, but I witnessed some armed individuals disguised as protesters shooting at civilians. They were not ordinary protesters, they carried guns and knives,&#8221; an Iranian in a northwestern town told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The Norway-based Iranian Kurdish rights group Hengaw has said some of the heaviest clashes during protests that erupted in late December were in Kurdish areas in the northwest.
Getting information out of Iran has been complicated by internet blackouts, which were partly lifted for a few hours early on Saturday. But internet monitoring group NetBlocks said the blackout seemed to have later been reimposed.
Faizan Ali, a 40-year-old medical doctor from Lahore, said he had to cut short his trip to Iran to visit his Iranian wife in the central city of Isfahan as &#8220;there was no internet or communication with my family in Pakistan.&#8221;
&#8220;I saw a violent mob burning buildings, banks and cars. I also witnessed an individual stab a passer-by,&#8221; he told Reuters upon his arrival back in Lahore.
(Additional reporting by Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore,Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Alexander Smith)

BRITAIN-IRAN-PROTEST-RIGHTS

At Least 5,000 Dead In Iran Unrest, Official Says, As Judiciary Hints At Executions

Global Politics

Iran

Protests

World

People Magazine and several other outlets are getting dragged for the headlines they used to report the death of cartoonist Scott Adams on Tuesday.
Adams, best known for creating the satirical comic strip “Dilbert,” died at the age of 68 following a terminal cancer diagnosis. Most mainstream outlets stuck to the facts or buried their criticisms of Adams deep in the article copy. The Left despised him for being a conservative and a huge fan of Donald Trump.
But some outlets put their bias front and center. People ran an article by staff writer Victoria Eden, which had the headline: “Scott Adams, Disgraced Dilbert Creator, Dies at 68,” and followed up with the subheading, “&#8217;Dilbert&#8217; was pulled from wide circulation after Adams’ racist rant in 2023.”
Social media followers expressed their frustration over the phrasing.
“You cannot hate the media enough,” one X reply <a href="https://x.com/mattvanswol/status/2011128217609130295">said</a> in response to the article being tweeted from the official People X account. That tweet was later deleted, but the article with the same headline still remains on the website as of Tuesday afternoon.
The outlet also removed Edel’s name from the online article and replaced it with “People Staff” after commenters began calling her out by name on the social media platform.
It wasn’t just People disparaging Adams as they reported on his death. While The New York Times selected a neutral headline on their website, the accompanying social post was more opinionated.
“Breaking News: Scott Adams, whose comic strip &#8216;Dilbert&#8217; was a sensation until he made racist comments on his podcast, has died at 68,” the legacy outlet shared in an X post.
“Stuff like this used to make me angry, but I honestly laughed as your hack behavior is too predictable. You will be hated until your dying days, you have no loved ones, when you die, people will rejoice,” one response to the NYT post <a href="https://x.com/Cernovich/status/2011135485494829274">said</a>.
“You have no shame. Unreal,” echoed <a href="https://x.com/realELFIGURIN/status/2011129288146210992">another</a>.
BBC News went with the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y320k72vyo">headline</a>: “Controversial Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams dies aged 68.” NPR also <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/01/13/nx-s1-5413219/scott-adams-dilbert-dies">referred to</a> Adams as a “controversial cartoonist” in their article.
“Scott Adams, ‘Dilbert’ Creator Who Courted Controversy, Dead at 68,” the headline from far-Left outlet Rolling Stone <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/scott-adams-dilbert-creator-dead-obtiuary-1235496233/">said</a>.
Some X users contrasted this phrasing to how mainstream outlets covered other notorious figures like convicted sex predator Jeffrey Epstein. For Epstein’s death, The New York Times ran the headline, “Jeffrey Epstein Dead in Suicide at Jail, Spurring Inquiries.”
The controversy these outlets reference goes back to the “Dilbert” cartoon being dropped from major newspapers following an incident in 2023. During a podcast episode, Adams discussed a Rasmussen poll, which found that nearly half of black Americans were unable to agree with the phrase, “It’s okay to be white.” Adams’ reply suggesting that the poll results indicate that black Americans are a “hate group” went viral.
“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. Just get the f*** away,” Adams said at the time after commenting further on race relations and crime.
“Wherever you have to go, just get away. Because there’s no fixing this. This can’t be fixed. So I don’t think it makes any sense as a white citizen of America to try to help black citizens anymore. It doesn’t make sense. There’s no longer a rational impulse. So I’m going to back off on being helpful to black America because it doesn’t seem like it pays off.”

Scott Adams

People Magazine Obit Calls Scott Adams ‘Disgraced Dilbert Creator,’ Spurring Backlash

People Magazine Obit Calls Scott Adams 'Disgraced Dilbert Creator,' Spurring Backlash

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Cartoonist Scott Adams, best known for creating the hilariously relatable, satirical comic strip “Dilbert,” has died at the age of 68 following a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Adams’ ex-wife, Shelly Miles, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs_JrOIo3SE">revealed the news</a> via the “Real Coffee With Scott Adams” YouTube show. Miles also shared a “final message” from Adams.
“If you are reading this, things did not go well for me. I have a few things to say before I go. My body failed before my brain,” she read, noting that Adams professed to be “of sound mind” when he wrote the note.
“Many of my Christian friends have asked me to find Jesus before I go. I’m not a believer, but I have to admit the risk-reward calculation for doing so looks so attractive to me, so here I go. I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior and look forward to spending an eternity with Him. The part about me not being a believer should be quickly resolved if I wake up in heaven. I won’t need any more convincing than that. I hope I’m still qualified for entry.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A Final Message From Scott Adams <a href="https://t.co/QKX6b0MFZA">pic.twitter.com/QKX6b0MFZA</a>
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/2011116140626657458?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The letter goes on with the story of Adams’ life. “I had an amazing life,” he said via Miles at one point. “I gave it everything I had. If I got any benefits for my work, I’m asking that you pay it forward as best as you can. That’s the legacy I want: Be useful and please know I loved you all to the very end.”
Adams announced his prostate cancer diagnosis in May 2025.
“I have the same cancer that Joe Biden has. I also have prostate cancer that has also spread to my bones,” the beloved cartoonist said. “My life expectancy is maybe this summer. I expect to be checking out from this domain sometime this summer.” He noted that he’d been dealing with the cancer for some time and that it had progressed to Stage 4 and spread to his bones.
Miles told <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2026/01/12/dilbert-creator-scott-adams-hospice-prostate-cancer/">TMZ</a> that Adams had begun hospice care earlier this week at his home in Northern California as his health had begun declining “rapidly.”
Adams created “Dilbert” in 1989, and it quickly grew in popularity as white-collar workers related to the pitfalls of office life and clueless managers. 
“[I]n many cases the least competent, least smart people are promoted, simply because they’re the ones you don’t want doing actual work,” Adams <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090206065944/http://aacsb.edu/publications/bized/p16-21.pdf">said</a> during a 2002 interview. “You want them ordering the doughnuts and yelling at people for not doing their assignments — you know, the easy work. Your heart surgeons and your computer programmers — your smart people — aren’t in management.”
At its height, Dilbert was syndicated in 2,000 newspapers in 57 countries and 19 languages. There were also comic books, a TV show, endless merchandise, and worldwide recognition. Adams was ostracized from the mainstream after broadcasting his conservative views and making statements about race, which were deemed problematic by the Left.
Adams said he was floored when President Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/scott-adams-reveals-trump-called-him-to-check-in-after-terminal-cancer-diagnosis?author=Amanda+Harding&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Scott+Adams+Reveals+Trump+Called+Him+To+%E2%80%98Check+In%E2%80%99+After+Terminal+Cancer+Diagnosis">called him personally</a> after he revealed his cancer diagnosis. Trump also shared his condolences Tuesday morning shortly after Adams’ death was announced.
“Sadly, the Great Influencer, Scott Adams, has passed away. He was a fantastic guy, who liked and respected me when it wasn’t fashionable to do so. He bravely fought a long battle against a terrible disease. My condolences go out to his family, and all of his many friends and listeners. He will be truly missed. God bless you Scott,” the president <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115888656099131562">shared</a> on Truth Social alongside a photo of him and Adams posing together.

‘I Had An Amazing Life’: ‘Dilbert’ Creator Scott Adams Dies At 68 Following Cancer Battle

'Dilbert' Creator Scott Adams Dies At 68 Following Cancer Battle

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