I remember, when I was younger, liking his music without knowing anything, and so it hurts now knowing just how much Eric Clapton sucks. If his response to COVID-19 wasn’t bad enough, last year we were also reminded that Clapton has, in the past, gone on racist rants that resurfaced due to his support of Van Morrison’s anti-lockdown song. These musicians were mad that COVID prevented live shows from happening, but … if everyone went to concerts and got sick and died, then there still wouldn’t be any live shows, so maybe Van and Eric needed to chill.
Granted, that was all in 2020, before a vaccine was readily available. Now that we’re slowly starting to see vaccination rates slow amid spiking new case numbers, Eric Clapton is still complaining about restrictions put in place to keep people safe, this time in regards to venues that require proof of vaccination for their audience members.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson made an announcement that in order to go to venues and nightclubs, patrons would have to prove they are vaccinated. London-based Italian architect and film producer Robin Monotti Graziadei posted on Clapton’s behalf—yes, a statement on someone else’s Instagram account—sharing his views on Johnson’s announcement to his page.
“Following the PM’s announcement on Monday the 19th of July 2021, I feel honor bound to make an announcement of my own: I wish to say that I will not perform on any stage where there is a discriminated audience present,” Clapton wrote. And here’s my question: HOW IS THIS DISCRIMINATING? IT’S JUST SCIENCE. The vaccine exists to prevent us all from dying of COVID. Requiring people to show proof of vaccination to go into a venue is protecting everyone else in that venue, as well as the performers and staff.
So Clapton refusing to perform places that ask for vaccination proof is just Clapton saying he’s okay with his concerts being super-spreader events. Sorry, but I don’t need to hear “Tears in Heaven” live badly enough to see what Heaven is like myself.
Some of the comments on the post included clapping emojis and someone writing “hero,” as if the vaccine wasn’t designed to protect them all from a deadly disease. I wrote yesterday about the amount of misinformation out there and how many patients now admitted into hospitals with COVID are unvaccinated and begging for the vaccine after the fact, but it is stories that this that are part of the problem. You have people like Clapton who think they’re “standing up” for something when in reality they’re going to get people killed.
There are so many old men who listen to Clapton who won’t get vaccinated and will probably end up with COVID. Clapton’s words will lead to more people refusing the vaccine and the potential of more variants of it putting the rest of us at risk once again. Eric Clapton can play guitar and write a song, but he’s not a scientist and he’s talking without knowing what he’s doing. It’s harmful, and if he refuses to perform anywhere that requires vaccinations, then I say let’s make every venue require proof of vaccination.
(image: Larry Busacca/Getty Images)
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