Eric Clapton Appears To Be A Covid Sceptic

[isla]

I was disappointed to read this

Eric Clapton refuses to play venues that require proof of vaccination
Clapton says he won’t perform for a ‘discriminated audience’ after vaccination passports made mandatory for clubs and venues this autumn

In response to the government announcement that vaccination passports will be required to access nightclubs and venues by the end of September, the musician has issued a statement saying he would not play “any stage where there is a discriminated audience present.

“Unless there is provision made for all people to attend, I reserve the right to cancel the show.”

Clapton shared the statement via the Telegram account of Italian architect and Covid sceptic Robin Monotti. It was accompanied by a link to Clapton’s anti-lockdown collaboration with Van Morrison, Stand and Deliver, in which they sing: “Do you wanna be a free man / Or do you wanna be a slave?”

https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...cination-covid

[Clarkey]

He doesn't seem to be a particularly smart or pleasant person. His racist antics have always put me off him.

[Reynard38]

Never cared for his music.

[Beowolf]

“Every morning, Eric Clapton’s alarm clock goes off. He wakes up, remembers that he still isn’t Stevie Ray Vaughn, and cries.”

-Ted Nugent

[isla]

Well, I have to say that I have always been a big fan of his music, especially the early stuff with John Mayall and then Cream. There are tunes from back then, such as "Steppin' Out" which I learned note for note, and still remember and play today. So he has been a huge influence on my own guitar playing. I also like that he has organised at least six 'Crossroads' guitar festivals since 1999, which have given a platform to a lot of musicians.

I don't understand the racist thing. I know he had an awful racist rant during a 1976 concert, but some observers claim he was very drunk at the time. He was always good friends with Buddy Guy, Freddie King and other black musicians, covered Bob Marley songs and has expressed admiration for him. He has also celebrated the work of Robert Johnson in an album covering all his songs.

[skuthorp]

I was surprised he was still alive………….. I wonder if he's vaccinated………...

[LarixMaximus]

The thread title is a bit of a stretch, his response is to Covid passports, not a disbelief in Covid.

People who have recovered from Covid, like myself, who have strong positive anti-bodies , are not recommended to take the vaccine, at least yet, in Sweden. People in this situation can not get vaccine passports, despite medically having the same anti-bodies as a vaccinated person.

Maybe you should ask him if it is this discrimination that bothers him?

[ron ll]

Except this is far from the first time he has been a jerk. I have never understood the adoration of him or his guitar skill.

[peb]

We go for decades without hearing much about Clapton's 70s racist remarks. And then he speaks out on vaccine side effects and all of the suddenly everyone dislikes Clapton again because he was a racist. I have never been that big of fan, just not into blues enough I suppose, but I like how he seems to have turned his life around and redeemed himself over the years. I am not a big fan of cancel culture pointing back 35 years.

[amish rob]

I am always amazed that people give a **** what famous people say.

Who cares? He can play guitar/hit a ball/drive a car... And? He’s probably still a dumbass, and who cares about his opinions or likes? Why do people get so wound up? Why do people care about famous people?

People are so weird, to me.

[David G]

I am always amazed that people give a **** what famous people say.

Who cares? He can play guitar/hit a ball/drive a car... And? He’s probably still a dumbass, and who cares about his opinions or likes? Why do people get so wound up? Why do people care about famous people?

People are so weird, to me.

Me too. Just because you're famous, don't mean you're smart. Same same: rich. I always pay little attention to 'celebrities', though I do appreciate when they use their platform to attempt to do some good in the world.

But mostly, I separate the art from the personality. I am a fan of Clapton's music. And Bill Cosby's humor.

[StevenBauer]

I am always amazed that people give a **** what famous people say.

Who cares? He can play guitar/hit a ball/drive a car... And? He’s probably still a dumbass, and who cares about his opinions or likes? Why do people get so wound up? Why do people care about famous people?

People are so weird, to me.

And me.

[StevenBauer]

The thread title is a bit of a stretch, his response is to Covid passports, not a disbelief in Covid.

People who have recovered from Covid, like myself, who have strong positive anti-bodies , are not recommended to take the vaccine, at least yet, in Sweden. People in this situation can not get vaccine passports, despite medically having the same anti-bodies as a vaccinated person.

Maybe you should ask him if it is this discrimination that bothers him?

Medical professionals are giving different a recommendation here in the US, Scar. I’m not sure what Great Briton is saying.

[amish rob]

Glad I’m not alone.

And, I do NOT mean to imply I have no respect for famous people and/or their talents. I have huge respect for people who are skilled; cooking, sewing, flying a helicopter, jumping a snow machine... it’s not for me to decide which thing people should do, but I CAN appreciate grace and skill.

Also, I meet a lot of famous people, which may temper my feelings. A few weeks ago, I met a world champion, and I impressed him by being so UN-impressed.
“Meh. I know loads of world champs...” Hahaha.

People are just people, though, end of day.

We are all dumb humans.

[peb]

Me too. Just because you're famous, don't mean you're smart. Same same: rich. I always pay little attention to 'celebrities', though I do appreciate when they use their platform to attempt to do some good in the world.

But mostly, I separate the art from the personality. I am a fan of Clapton's music. And Bill Cosby's humor.

In general, I tend to agree. But I can loose interest in a celebrity's art when it comes to light that they are really not very good people, Cosby being a good example. Every few years I always enjoyed going back and listening to some of his 70s comic recordings, but have not had an interest at all in a long time.
On the other side of the coin, there are a (very) few celebs, who I am not even that big of fan of, who I really come to respect when they are able to use their fame and actually make a difference by truly educating themselves on an issue and sticking with it. Bono (ok, I admit to never being that big of a U2 fan) comes to mind, I have admired him for a long time. George Clooney is another example that comes to mind.
But for the most part, I do tend to separate the art from the personality.

[ron ll]

It’s not that celebrities are smarter than others, it’s that they have a much bigger audience. When they say something asinine, it affects a lot more people than when I say something asinine, even though I try to make up the difference with frequency.

[isla]

The thread title is a bit of a stretch, his response is to Covid passports, not a disbelief in Covid.

Not necessarily a disbelief in Covid per se, but much is to be inferred from this line in the OP..

Clapton shared the statement via the Telegram account of Italian architect and Covid sceptic Robin Monotti. It was accompanied by a link to Clapton’s anti-lockdown collaboration with Van Morrison, Stand and Deliver, in which they sing: “Do you wanna be a free man / Or do you wanna be a slave?”

So he shared a messaging service with a known Covid sceptic to deliver his statement, and collaborates on a song which protests about lockdowns and mask wearing (explained by Van Morrison in a TV interview) suggests a Covid sceptic to me.
Here's the first few lines of the song..

Stand and deliver
You let them put the fear on you
Stand and deliver
But not a word you heard was true

[Joe (SoCal)]

Van Morrison is a total tool

[David G]

Van Morrison is a total tool

Indeed. Ultra-Christian dingbat. And yet I always loved his music.

[LarixMaximus]

Not necessarily a disbelief in Covid per se, but much is to be inferred from this line in the OP..


Stand and deliver
You let them put the fear on you
Stand and deliver
But not a word you heard was true

I have not heard the song. It still open to debate if he wrote that (if he did indeed himself),with the full belief that Covid is a fake illness or wether he is pandering to artistic license like the Sex Pistols did?

Either way, UK government has seemed to have done a U-turn on vaccine passports, maybe that is his bigger issue?

[Hugh Conway]

Me too. Just because you're famous, don't mean you're smart. Same same: rich. I always pay little attention to 'celebrities', though I do appreciate when they use their platform to attempt to do some good in the world.

But mostly, I separate the art from the personality. I am a fan of Clapton's music. And Bill Cosby's humor.

Bill Cosby’s Spanish fly sketch is downright creepy with what we now know.

[isla]

I have not heard the song. It still open to debate if he wrote that (if he did indeed himself),with the full belief that Covid is a fake illness or wether he is pandering to artistic license like the Sex Pistols did?

Either way, UK government has seemed to have done a U-turn on vaccine passports, maybe that is his bigger issue?

Van Morrison wrote the lyric, Clapton performed the song.
Van Morrison claims to be on a crusade to save live music, hence his objection to lock-downs etc. But he seems to forget that live music is not the only thing to suffer from this pandemic. The whole entertainment industry (theatre, performance art, cinema etc.) is suffering, as well as retail, hospitality and industry. The best way to stop them all suffering is to beat the virus.

[CWSmith]

Clapton casts a long shadow, but a friend who saw him was disappointed. She said that Mark Knopfler gave a MUCH better and longer show. Of course, that's not what it's about. Clapton is wrong and he's been on the wrong side of this since the beginning which previous threads have testified to.

[Canoeyawl]

Van Morrison wrote the lyric, Clapton performed the song.
Van Morrison claims to be on a crusade to save live music, ....

He needs to have a conversation with John Prine

[isla]

He needs to have a conversation with John Prine

Well, I don't like Morrison much, but I wouldn't wish for him to die

[TomF]

A person can be astonishingly gifted in one area, and a complete horse's @ss in other respects. I read some stuff once about Caravaggio - oy! Richard Wagner was antisemitic and ungenerous scum, and I can't quite get past it when listening to his music. Little Walter was by all reports a pretty nasty dude, for all that everybody who's picked up a harmonica since owes him an immense debt. There's a reason that Kathleen Battle - she of the iridescent soprano voice in the 80s and 90s - had her operatic career cut short; apparently, she's a diva in every bad sense of the term. Vita Sackville-West of the simply ethereal Sissinghurst garden had sympathy at some points for Mosely (her husband Nicholson briefly joined Mosely's British fascist party, before it went completely bad and he left it), and it affects how I now think as I look at Sissinghurst's truly lovely plantings and architecturally perfect hedge layouts.

I dunno about Clapton's racism or etc., haven't been aware before. This stand of his about COVID is, IMO dangerous, not least because lesser musicians have had a safeguard cut out from under them because, well, they're NOT Clapton.

I like a lot of his playing, which can be pretty sensational. It doesn't make him an epidemiologist though, or a public health policy expert. He's responsible to play damned good music for his patrons, and to safeguard his own health (and that of his band) as he sees fit. He's got no damned business monkeying with the health risks of his patrons. To act otherwise is to embrace being an entitled piece of sh!t, IMO. Unaware of the risks you're imposing, or uncaring.

Yeah, Caravaggio was just an awful human, but damn. He could paint.

[Joe (SoCal)]

Yeah, Caravaggio was just an awful human, but damn. He could paint.

David with the Head of Goliath, 1609–10. Oil on canvas,

Pssssst the severed head is a self portrait

David is perturbed, "his expression mingling sadness and compassion." The decision to depict him as pensive rather than jubilant creates an unusual psychological bond between him and Goliath. This bond is further complicated by the fact that Caravaggio has depicted himself as Goliath, while the model for David is il suo Caravaggino ("his own little Caravaggio"). This most plausibly refers to Cecco del Caravaggio, the artist's studio assistant in Rome some years previously, recorded as the boy "who lay with him." No independent portraits of Cecco are known, making the identification impossible to verify, but "[a] sexual intimacy between David/model and Goliath/painter seems an inescapable conclusion, however, given that Caravaggio made David's sword appear to project upward, suggestively, between his legs and at an angle that echoes the diagonal linking of the protagonist's gaze to his victim." Alternatively, based on the portrait of Caravaggio done by Ottavio Leoni, this may be a double self-portrait. The young Caravaggio (his own little Caravaggio) wistfully holds the head of the adult Caravaggio. The wild and riotous behavior of the young Caravaggio essentially had destroyed his life as a mature adult, and he reflects with a familiar hermeticism on his own condition in a painting of a related religious subject.

[Andrew2]

Couple of people I know, knew Clapton and found him a nice guy. Me, grew up with his music and, as you do, found it defining.
He had plenty of probs with drink etc. But seems to have left them behind, along with helping many others with his island retreat.
I now find some of my US family are anti vaxxers. WTF? They have had a nice lifestyle, children of professional parents who really helped the country. I expected better.

[Breakaway]

I think celebs, if they are responsible, refrain from public speech on important topics. The reason? As celebrities, people do not necessarily agree with what they say. They agree because THEY SAID IT.

If the celebs are honest, they realize this and that they are not convincing people... they are using them.

Kevin


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[ron ll]

It’s why they hire Tom Selleck to sell reverse mortgages.

[isla]

I think celebs, if they are responsible, refrain from public speech on important topics. The reason? As celebrities, people do not necessarily agree with what they say. They agree because THEY SAID IT.

If the celebs are honest, they realize this and that they are not convincing people... they are using them.

Kevin

I suppose I'm a terrible hypocrite, because if some celebrity takes a stand on a social issue such as BLM, gay rights, child poverty or whatever, then I cheer them and think "That will make people sit up and take notice". But if they suddenly reveal themselves as racist, homophobic or generally hard right-wing, then I tend to think "Jeez, why don't you keep your opinions to yourself". Just human nature I suppose.

[Lew Barrett]

Van Morrison is a nut case, a true misanthrope. Is it not surprising that Eric Clapton is afraid of needles? Maybe his former lifetime of self injecting street dugs has had an unexpected effect.

[jonboy]

From what I have read including the op's BBC article, Clapton isn't Covid sceptic like you all seem to think. He's vaccine sceptic. HUGE Difference

[isla]

From what I have read including the op's BBC article, Clapton isn't Covid sceptic like you all seem to think. He's vaccine sceptic. HUGE Difference

And his willing participation in anti-lockdown protests is vaccine related how exactly?

[George Jung]

From what I have read including the op's BBC article, Clapton isn't Covid sceptic like you all seem to think. He's vaccine sceptic. HUGE Difference

I'd disagree; the 'separation' isn't particularly great.