Eric Clapton as a guitarist/musician is a legend. Eric Clapton as a human has been problematic. Eric Clapton as a medical expert is a fool.

There’s never been any question about Clapton’s excellence as a musician. His skills as a guitarist earned him the nickname God early in his career. You’ll find him near the top of every all-time best guitarist list. He’s also written some great songs, including “Bellbottom Blues”, “Wonderful Tonight” and the rock anthem, “Layla.” However, today we aren’t here to debate his standing as a musician.

There have been plenty of questions about how Clapton has led his life. He famously or probably infamously lusted after Patti Boyd, the then-wife of his best friend, George Harrison. It didn’t matter that the relationship between George and Patti was basically done at the time, it’s still more than a little distasteful to do that. Of course, if Clapton had been a better person, we wouldn’t have had some great songs like “Bellbottom Blues”, “Wonderful Tonight” and the rock anthem, “Layla.” However, today we aren’t here to debate the good and the bad in his personal life.

Today we will look at the Eric Clapton who in the last year thinks he has become an expert on Covid and the Covid vaccine.

Last year, he teamed up with Van Morrison to put their anti-lockdown views into music. They felt that being locked out was hurting the live music industry, which was true and was costing them their livelihood, also true. I’d feel bad for them except Van’s net worth is around $100 million while Eric’s is estimated at $450 million. A little time off in the name of public health wasn’t going to hurt them too badly. Their views came off as selfish and privileged. Besides, what they thought were new protest songs sucked. Woody Guthrie these guys ain’t!

That was bad enough, but Clapton has come out as an anti-vaxxer. Apparently, he had some side effects from his two AstraZeneca vaccinations. His hands became numb which made it difficult to play the guitar for a couple of weeks. He had no problem letting people know about this in a letter that featured this line, “But the propaganda said the vaccine was safe for everyone…” Hmmm….a life-saving vaccine versus being able to play a musical instrument? Again, it comes off as selfish and privileged as well as unknowledgeable.

And now Clapton has doubled or even tripled down on these views with his new protest song, “This Has Gotta Stop.” Here are some of the lyrics:

This has gotta stop
Enough is enough
I can’t take this BS any longer

I can’t move my hands
I break out in sweat
I wanna cry
Can’t take it anymore

Hey Eric, I’m sorry that you had problems with the results of the vaccine. I also understand that you’re entitled to your personal views about all of this. No one wants to take away your freedom of speech, no matter how misguided it is. But, what you’re doing is dangerous. You have millions of fans worldwide. A lot of them, who may have been on the fence about taking the vaccine, will read your words or will listen to your song and make their decision based upon what you said. For some unknown reason, your words could have more of an impact than the words of a physician who knows the science. It may endanger the health or cost the life of someone who could have easily avoided that outcome.

So to Eric Clapton, I use your own words on you:

This has gotta stop
Enough is enough
I can’t take this BS any longer

Related Post: Van Morrison continues to be a putz about the Covid-19 pandemic

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