We heard about john mayer, but we forgot about eric clayton

[angee_is_mad]

I found this subject on Siditty's blog and did some research on eric clayton being racist.
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/people,756,how-clapton-sparked-an-anti-racist-revolution,20473


Today's cover story for The First Post about the birth of Rock Against Racism is likely to come as a shock to many fans of Eric Clapton. Can the man responsible for writing and singing Layla and Wonderful Tonight really be the same one who made comments at a 1976 concert considered so racist that a whole anti-racist movement was born?

The occasion was a concert in Birmingham. Clapton, who had been drinking at the time, told his audience that Britain was on its way to becoming "a black colony" and that the controversial Conservative politician Enoch Powell had been right to make his famous "Rivers of Blood" speech in the same city eight years before. As a result of Clapton's outburst, Rock Against Racism was founded to champion "music that knows who the real enemy is".

Enoch Powell had been a member of Edward Heath's Shadow Cabinet in 1968 when he made his doom-laden speech about immigration, foretelling a loss of British national identity. It outraged the political establishment and Heath sacked him immediately from his position as Shadow Defence Secretary. Powell stood by his speech until his death in 1998, always claiming he was not a racist ­ or a "racialist" as he liked to put it ­ but concerned the country could not cope with high levels of immigration.

Like Enoch Powell, Clapton has never taken back his comments or compromised his position. As recently as December 2007 he appeared on the South Bank Show and told Melvyn Bragg that he wasn't a racist but still believed Powell's comments were relevant. Unlike Powell, however, Eric Clapton's career has enjoyed a resurgence - he was given a CBE in 2004, reunited with Cream in 2005 and will be headlining this year's Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park. Like David Bowie, who once told an interviewer that Britain would benefit from a Fascist dictator, "Slowhand" Clapton has managed to emerge from the allegations of racism seemingly unharmed.]


This is the 1st time I have heard about this. It's probably because it happened in 76 and I was a child back then. This is a man who made money off of black artists and this is a man who still HAS NOT APOLOGIZE for those statements from 1976.

[kwassa]

1. This doesn't make much sense, there is something big missing in this story.

Clapton's own band at one point was almost completely black musicians. He has be championing the blues for 40-some years, toured backing up black bluesman Freddie King, has recorded with many other black bluesmen including recently B.B. King .... this is illogical...

edit to add:

I read some other links on this, this definitely happened, and it still makes no sense. Clapton had a serious heroin addiction in the mid-70s, too though this is not an excuse. He is lucky he survived.
His first solo hit after he left Cream and Blind Faith was a cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff", which had the effect of making Marley known to a much wider public.

[angee_is_mad]

3. He's still unapologetic

till this day about those remarks. The only thing that makes sense to me is that he has a paternal complex when it comes to blacks.

It's amazing how much the internet has broaden our world. If not for the afrosphere, I would have never know about his 1976 statements. Without the internet and google I would not have not known that, after he has been CLEAN from drugs, he has NEVER apologized and finds nothing wrong with those statements 20 yrs later.

[kwassa]

6. He seems to have really odd political views

what I was running across was that he felt no remorse for his political views, he felt remorse for talking about politics. He still spoke favorably recently the same right wing politician he supported in 1976. He also does fundraisers for a group that supports traditional fox hunting with hounds, which has been outlawed in England and Wales since 2005. this is the traditional sport of the aristocracy in England. He is either right-wing or libertarian.

he might just be a political idiot. Being the most famous rock guitarist ever doesn't mean he knows a thing about anything else.

I only know John Meyer because I saw him play guitar in the video of this Crossroads Festival that Clapton created to feature guitar players. Meyer is a very good guitarist, which is all I know about him. I thought him a lightweight pop star.

[bliss_eternal]

8. deleted.

commented below.

[Brewman_Jax]

2. What's the rest of the story?

Clapton, along with other British musicians, toured with, and even honored, the black musicians, while their American counterparts barely acknowledged that black people even existed. Clapton's statements did happen, but, like posted above, it doesn't make sense. :shrug:

As for John Mayer, he shows how far we STILL have to go. This is the 21st Century? :(

[bliss_eternal]

11. good question.

:shrug:

[fishwax]

4. The actual rant (as it was quoted in the press at the time) was even more graphic and disturbing

I don't wish to reproduce it all here, because it contains repeated racist and anti-immigrant slurs and other just generally offensive statements. But the full text of it is available online, gathered from contemporary newspaper and magazine reports at the time. To provide a fuller context, he not only voiced support for the vile Enoch Powell, but also claimed that "England is for white people" and "we should send them all back", and reportedly said that "I used to be into dope. Now I'm into racism."

Clapton attributed the incident to alcohol, but as the OP says, he has in recent years reiterated his admiration of the vile Enoch Powell and refused to apologize for his remarks. This is how he introduces the subject in his autobiography (which came out in 2007): "When I listened to music, I was fairly disinterested in where the players came from, or what the color of their skin was. Interesting, then, that ten years later I would be labeled a racist, for making drunken remarks about Enoch Powell onstage in Birmingham, England."

He then goes on to say that it "was never meant to be a racist statement," but that he was frustrated with greedy policies that encouraged minorities from the West Indies (and elsewhere in the former empire) to immigrate to England, only to be exploited for cheap labor, resulting in "cultural confusion and overcrowding." But then at the end of the paragraph he says "Of course, it might have also had something to do with the fact that Pattie had just been leered at by a member of the Saudi royal family--a combination of the two perhaps." :eyes: :puke: (In the original rant he starts off by complaining that an "expletive-deleted, slur-deleted Arab grabbed my wife's bum, you know?")

It doesn't make sense, in a certain way, but it is what it is. There is a huge disconnect between, on the one hand, his love for (and ability to profit from) African American music and musicians and, on the other, problematic attitudes towards people of color. Alas, that disconnect is not unique to Clapton. x(

[bliss_eternal]

9. Ah--The precious Patti....

...would that be the same Patti that was previously married to his buddy, George Harrison? Who he lusted over until he was able to make her his own? Of the famous song,"Layla?" The same woman, (human being) all the rock dewds seemed to see as nothing other than a notch on their belt (to attempt to seduce or have for themselves)?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layla

:spray:

Yes, of course--he would be protective of her bum, considering how he himself came about considering her, his "property." :eyes:

All of this is to say, knowing certain things (like Clapton's lust for his pal's wife), gives a specific subtext to anything else he may say or do. His rather obvious misogyny seems his pervading issue, at least for me. Not surprising that one would have such a disconnect where bigotry is concerned, considering his attitude about women. :shrug: Where one intolerance lives, there are usually others lurking. One feeds the other, etc.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

5. From my dealings with my husband's English family and friends...

They do not really have a problem with black immigrants. If they have a problem, it is with Pakistani immigrants or other Asians. I was shocked to hear my husband once casually refer to "Paki's" as though it were the most natural thing in the world. And when the PMs complain about immigrants they are usually referring to Asians.

[jmm]

7. I'm not sure if there are many other Moral Orel fans here but

I think Chinafoodtown conversation in the first couple minutes of this episode sum up what's going on here.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9tmxh_gods-image_fun

Like the father in this episode Clapton and many others may dabble in other cultures like they're a roller coaster ride but they still view them as a danger they want to keep a safe distance from.

[bliss_eternal]

10. I should have known...

...you would also be a Moral Orel fan. lol. Truly one of the most twisted, frequently disturbing, interesting, inciteful (and often hysterical) commentaries on religion, morality, life, childhood, etc. I've found my mouth agape and shocked at one episode, only to be surprised to hear myself laughing at a different one.

Did you see the final episode before it went off the air? (I realize it's back now, from time to time--just no new episodes).

[jmm]

12. I almost forgot at times that I was watching a claymation show, especially during the last season.

The writing was amazing.

The week the last episode aired I had cable problems. My cable company was making everybody switch to boxes but I didn't get a notice from them and I was part of the first wave that had their service cut off without one. When I called about getting a cable box they weren't much help. I work 12-8 pm and those were the hours their office in my city was open. Among their suggestions was I go to an office one city away that was also open 12-8 and go to an office that was open 11-7 about 90 miles away. Somebody had been fired in my dept about a week before this and we were scrambling to figure out what to do in her absence so coming in late so I could pick it up wasn't an option. After I convinced her to transfer me to somebody with a bit more common sense they agreed to ship a box to me. I'm sure letting them know there is cable competition in my city and Comcast could be at my place before I could get a box from them helped ;-). It arrived the day the last episode aired. It came with instructions in a few languages but none of them were English and it didn't have all the wires I needed but I did manage to hook up to my TV and computer an hour before the last episode aired. I missed part one of the Nature episode when it originally aired and it was awhile before I caught it in repeats so I had been in mini-panic mode that I wouldn't catch the last episode but thankfully I saw it and it wrapped up the series well.

[bliss_eternal]

13. Oh no...

...sounds like our prior cable company--tons of stress and frustration, with little to no support. Customer service? Practically non-existent. I'm so sorry you went through all of that.

I agree that the last episode was a good wrap up and resolution of the series. Excellent writing. I love claymation. Reminds me of Rankin Bass shows of childhood. Oh btw, did you hear about the "turkey baster" episode controversy (and fight that ensued between the creator and producer)? lol.

Can't believe we're discussing animation again (lol) So rare to find women (particularly a feminist minded woman of color) who's also into animation, so forgive me...

Do you watch South Park?

[jmm]

14. I always thought it was kind of ironic that

they were afraid to air the turkey baster episode but from what I read the show was canceled because they wanted more episodes like that and didn't like the scripts they saw for the last season. Such a shame especially considering that was the best season of a great show.

I watch South Park but don't really follow it like I use to when it first came out. I like how they stay topical and they have had some good episodes in the last few seasons such as the one about Brittney Spears but they can be too heavy handed with their beliefs. I don't expect them to always agree with me but pay more attention to other viewpoints. Did you see the episode about Mormonism? I liked it because even though they critiqued the church the Mormon boy who had befriended Stan confronts him at the end so you're not being beaten with one side of an issue. The show is it's best when it can do that or episodes like the Wheel of Fortune (I think the NAACP or somebody who worked with them might have come out and praised that episode because of the way they dealt with the "N" word.) one where they explore an issue.

I swear I watch more animated shows as an adult than I did when I was a kid. I like how they can go places shows with actors typically don't.

[bliss_eternal]

15. totally agree...

...on south park. they can get quite heavy handed w/their "messages"...i noticed particularly when those messages had anything to do w/liberals/progressives. (apparently at least one of them is/was a bush fan). so i stopped watching after their katrina episode. i found it ridiculous, offensive and incredibly insensitive.

i'll look for the episodes you mentioned though. they sound like worthy of a viewing. ;)

i also wasn't big on animation as a kid. watch a ton more, now (as an adult).

adult swim showed ads stating the boondocks is returning (soon)....yay!