General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsEric Clapton Isn't Just Spouting Vaccine Nonsense--He's Bankrolling It
This past spring, the car the group used to transport its gear was rendered nearly unusable after an accident, so McLaughlin started a GoFundMe page to help pay for transportation, gas, and legal fees. And one day this past spring, he was shocked to see a £1,000 donation on the site from Eric Clapton.
Im, like, this could be fake, McLaughlin recalls. But when McLaughlin emailed the account listed with the donation, he received a text from the 76-year-old British guitar hero himself. It was something complimentary, along the lines of, Hey, its Eric great work youre doing, McLaughlin says. The two later talked by phone, and before McLaughlin knew it, Clapton offered his familys white, six-person VW Transporter van as a temporary replacement for Jam for Freedoms wheels. He also gave them a chunk of money (McLaughlin declines to say how much) to buy a new van and said he might even sit in with the group at some point. Thanks to Claptons assistance, Jam for Freedom are now free to spread their message all over the U.K.
In the past, Clapton has been reluctant to voice his political views. As he told Rolling Stone in 1968, What Im doing now is just my way of thinking, but if it gets into a paper somewhere, people will say that what Im saying is the way they ought to think. Which is wrong, because Im only a musician. If they dig my music, thats great, but they dont have to know whats going on in my head.
But in recent months Clapton has himself become a leading vaccine skeptic, part of a community that Dr. Anthony Fauci has said is part of the problem because youre allowing yourself to be a vehicle for the virus to be spreading to someone else. And while never explicitly condemning the lockdown, hes said live music might never recover and joined Van Morrison for three songs that amount to lockdown protest anthems. By way of a friends social media account, hes also detailed what he called his disastrous experience after receiving two AstraZeneca shots (propaganda said the vaccine was safe for everyone, he wrote).
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/eric-clapton-vaccine-lockdown-racist-comments-1239027/
Response to demmiblue (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Owl
(3,647 posts)live love laugh
(13,185 posts)Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)samplegirl
(11,519 posts)people through their music in hard times.
Sad so sad to hear that they have become greedy self serving Ted Nugents!
Lost all respect for Van Morrison and now Clapton!
I guess Money changed everything!
walkingman
(7,685 posts)to our society?
tanyev
(42,660 posts)Fixed it.
Blues Heron
(5,948 posts)Clapton needs to STFU and play his guitar period. Cut his vocal mic please!
intheflow
(28,515 posts)we're going to hold him accountable to something he said over 50 years ago, probably while drunk and stoned, and before he became a 60+ year Rock Star? For him, it was easier to be humble about being a musician when he was in his 20s than now, when he is considered by many (and maybe himself) to be a Rock God.
Happy Hoosier
(7,454 posts)He expressed support for for the fascist National Front. Hes expressed anti-immigrant sentiments. Now hes an anti-vaxxer. However good he is as a musician, he is a trash human.
tenderfoot
(8,438 posts)eom
Tommy Carcetti
(43,226 posts)snort
(2,334 posts)Earth-shine
(4,044 posts)I only like the song Layla. Nothing else. I mean it.
(Layla is like, wow, what a song.)