Following the furore over 'racist' comments made by Dibert comic strip creator Scott Adams, his creation, Dilbert, is distancing himself from his creator.

In an exclusive interview with FNN, Dilbert told us:

You know, not many people realize this but I am actually black, so Scott's comments are very hurtful to me. The reason that this is not clear is because most syndicators of the strip can't be bothered to colour me in when they print the strip in order to save ink. It is for this reason that I will no longer appear in his comic strip.

In fact, this is not the first time that a character has abandoned its creator - other examples include:

• Rod Hull's Emu who emigrated to Australia
• Sheri Lewis's Lambchop who ran away to a sheep farm in New Zealand
• Ray Alan's Lord Charles who joined a hippy commune in California

Then there were all those characters created by J K Rowling who turned against her after her outrageous claim that 'only women bleed'.