This past July, guitar legend Eric Clapton made headlines when he vowed to cancel shows at any venues requiring attendees to show proof of COVID19 vaccination.
Eric Clapton said he would cancel any shows if the venue requires attendees prove they are vaccinated against Covid-19. https://t.co/ByUi9lLG2V
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) July 21, 2021
The fine folks at Rolling Stone are still very much hung up on how Eric Clapton feels about COVID19 vaccines. So hung up on it, in fact, that they’ve published a whole “special report” about how Eric Clapton is a bad person with bad ideas about the COVID19 vaccine and pretty much everything else.
Rolling Stone special report: Inside Eric Clapton’s baffling vaccine skepticism and shocking history of racist statements https://t.co/5FxgwHhdnC
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) October 11, 2021
In recent months, Clapton has become a leading vaccine skeptic. By way of a friend’s social media account, he’s detailed what he called his “disastrous” experience after receiving two AstraZeneca shots (“Propaganda said the vaccine was safe for everyone,” he wrote).
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) October 11, 2021
Clapton recently gave money — and offered his Transporter van — to Jam for Freedom, a group of U.K. musicians that spreads an anti-lockdown message and sings songs with lyrics like “You can stick your poison vaccine up your arse.” https://t.co/5FxgwHhdnC
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) October 11, 2021
At a concert in 1976, Clapton shocked the crowd with statements he later admitted were “full-tilt" racist. He talked about how the influx of immigrants would result in the U.K. “being a colony within 10 years,” before using a series of offensive slurs. https://t.co/5FxgwHhdnC
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) October 11, 2021
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Clapton’s views have earned him praise from conservative pundits like Michael Knowles — who once filled in for Rush Limbaugh and tweeted, “Eric Clapton is a much more credible person than Dr. Fauci.” https://t.co/5FxgwHhdnC
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) October 11, 2021
Dear God. Not Michael Knowles, who had the nerve to suggest that Dr. Anthony Fauci isn’t very credible.
Clapton risked his reputation as he doubled down on his views. “It’s a shame this is the way young Rolling Stone readers are going to read about him for the first time,” says a former associate. “He is one of the greats, and this is how he makes headlines in his dotage.”
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) October 11, 2021
And you can count on Rolling Stone to do their damnedest to make sure that this is how Eric Clapton will continue to make headlines going forward:
In the past, Clapton has been reluctant to voice his political views. As he told Rolling Stone in 1968, “What I’m doing now is just my way of thinking, but if it gets into a paper somewhere, people will say that what I’m saying is the way they ought to think. Which is wrong, because I’m only a musician. If they dig my music, that’s great, but they don’t have to know what’s 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 you’re allowing yourself to be a vehicle for the virus to be spreading to someone else.” And while never explicitly condemning the lockdown, he’s said “live music might never recover” and joined Van Morrison for three songs that amount to lockdown protest anthems. By way of a friend’s social media account, he’s also detailed what he called his “disastrous” experience after receiving two AstraZeneca shots (“propaganda said the vaccine was safe for everyone,” he wrote).
Clapton recently embarked on a U.S. tour booked in red states despite surging transmission numbers and death rates — and at venues that largely don’t require proof of vaccination. In the process, this Sixties icon, who embraced the sex, drugs, and rock & roll lifestyle as much as anyone in his generation, has drawn praise from conservative pundits. In Austin, he posed for backstage photos with Texas’ anti-vax-mandate Gov. Greg Abbott, known for his attacks on abortion and voting rights. The sight of Clapton in backstage photos with the notorious governor amounted to a deal killer for some: “I just deleted all my Clapton songs,” went one comment on Abbott’s Twitter feed, along with, “A Kid Rock type with better guitar skills. Done with him.”
Wow. You got ‘im, Rolling Stone. You got ‘im good!
Also, “young Rolling Stone readers.” Like those are a thing.
So if someone doesn’t toe the line with you hook line and sinker you also dig up old quotes? Again I ask that “The Closer- @DaveChappelle ‘s show be shown in civics classes across the United States! Oh and @RollingStone writers? Watch Chappell!
— A Sunny Day (@janeymarywendy) October 11, 2021
Don’t be ridiculous. They’re probably way too busy complaining about Dave Chappelle to watch him. We just hope that Dave Chappelle isn’t a fan of Eric Clapton’s music, otherwise Dave’s double-canceled!
Rolling Stone gave a Boston bomber the Tiger Beat cover treatment; they ran a false story re rape & defamed Phi Kappa Psi (for which they had to retract and apologize); they ran a false piece on Ivermectin without bothering to fact-check prior to publication. CLOWNS. https://t.co/2UvvIeONHk
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 11, 2021
It’s almost as if Rolling Stone is desperate to distract from their own litany of very public failures and embarrassments.
Eric Clapton won’t toe the line on vaccine passports, so Rolling Stone is digging up bullshit to hit Eric Clapton. Winner? Eric Clapton because no one reads the Rolling Stone anymore. https://t.co/xXe2gZILPS
— kaitlin, rino attention seeking whore (@thefactualprep) October 11, 2021
Pathetic attempt at a smear campaign. More evidence Rolling Stone can’t journalism. https://t.co/EpQNwmbeNx
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 11, 2021
So Rolling Stone decided it is going to be yet another boring leftist political magazine.
Good luck.
— NewJerseyDork_Defiant! (@NathanWurtzel) October 11, 2021
I can’t wait for the day this outlet goes bankrupt and folds. https://t.co/eQz332zWce
— Joseph Torres (@JTRocker99) October 11, 2021
We’ll bring the cake and ice cream.
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