Editing Eric Clapton (section)

=== "Keep Britain White" ===
On 5 August 1976, Clapton spoke out against increasing immigration during a concert in [[Birmingham]].<ref>{{cite web|first=David|last=Stubbs|url=https://thequietus.com/articles/20701-eric-clapton-racism-morrissey|title=Eric Clapton & Enoch Powell to Morrissey: Race in British Music Since '76|website=[[The Quietus]]|date=9 August 2016|access-date=3 July 2021|archive-date=19 April 2017|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170419140952/http://thequietus.com/articles/20701-eric-clapton-racism-morrissey|url-status=live}}</ref> Visibly intoxicated on stage, Clapton voiced his support for the right-wing British politician [[Enoch Powell]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://microsites.virgin.net/music/pictures/profiles/when-popstars-get-political.php?ssid=6 |title=When popstars talk politics: Clapton's shocking rant |publisher=[[Virgin Media]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218181949/http://microsites.virgin.net/music/pictures/profiles/when-popstars-get-political.php?ssid=6 |archive-date=18 February 2009 |access-date=6 June 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/oct/14/popandrock2 |work=[[The Guardian]] |title=The ten right-wing rockers |first=Luke |last=Bainbridge |date=14 October 2007 |access-date=7 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818152641/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/oct/14/popandrock2 |archive-date=18 August 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Barry|last=Miles|title=London Calling: A Countercultural History of London since 1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gYn87V36p5AC&pg=PT238|publisher=Atlantic Books|location=London|year=2010|isbn=978-1-848875548|page=|access-date=21 July 2022|archive-date=10 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810045109/https://books.google.com/books?id=gYn87V36p5AC&pg=PT238|url-status=live}}</ref> He addressed the audience as follows:
{{blockquote| Do we have any foreigners in the audience tonight? If so, please put up your hands. So where are you? Well wherever you all are, I think you should all just leave. Not just leave the hall, leave our country. I don't want you here, in the room or in my country. Listen to me, man! I think we should vote for Enoch Powell. Enoch's our man. I think Enoch's right, I think we should send them all back. Stop Britain from becoming a black colony. Get the foreigners out. Get the [[wogs]] out. Get the [[wikt:coon|coons]] out. Keep Britain white. I used to be into dope, now I'm into racism. It's much heavier, man. Fucking wogs, man. Fucking [[Saudis]] taking over London. Bastard wogs. Britain is becoming overcrowded and Enoch will stop it and send them all back. The black wogs and coons and Arabs and fucking Jamaicans don't belong here, we don't want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don't want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. This is Great Britain, a white country, what is happening to us, for fuck's sake? Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!<ref>{{cite web|first=Andrew|last=Marzoni|url=https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-fairest-soul-brother-in-england-marzoni|title=The Fairest Soul Brother in England|website=[[The Baffler]]|date=26 February 2019|access-date=3 July 2021|archive-date=22 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210722100602/https://thebaffler.com/latest/the-fairest-soul-brother-in-england-marzoni|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

"Keep Britain White" was, at the time, a slogan of the far-right [[National Front (UK)|National Front]] (NF).<ref>{{cite news |work=The Independent |location=London |access-date=18 January 2010 |title=Dabbling in right wing politics – David Bowie, Brian Ferry and Eric Clapton |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-ten-worst-rocknroll-career-moves-1774270.html?action=Popup&ino=3 |first=John |last=Hall |date=19 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090827082948/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-ten-worst-rocknroll-career-moves-1774270.html?action=Popup&ino=3 |archive-date=27 August 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>''Rebel Rock'' by J. Street. First Edition (1986). Oxford Press Basil Blackwell.pp.74–75.</ref> This incident, along with some controversial remarks made around the same time by [[David Bowie]],<ref name=TW/> were the main catalysts for the creation of [[Rock Against Racism]], with a concert on 30 April 1978.<ref name=racism>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/apr/20/popandrock.race |first=Sarfraz |last=Manzoor |author-link=Sarfraz Manzoor |date=20 April 2008 |access-date=18 January 2010 |work=[[The Observer]] |title=The year rock found the power to unite |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227033900/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/apr/20/popandrock.race |archive-date=27 February 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In an interview from October 1976 with ''[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]'' magazine, Clapton said that he did not "know much about politics" and said of his immigration speech that "I just don't know what came over me that night. It must have been something that happened in the day but it came out in this garbled thing."<ref name="Farther On">{{cite web|url = http://theband.hiof.no/articles/clapton_interview_sounds_oct_1976.html|title = Eric Clapton: Farther On Up The Road|last = Charone|first = Barbara|date = October 1976|work = Reprint for the web, article from Sounds Magazine|access-date = 19 October 2009|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091016235550/http://theband.hiof.no/articles/clapton_interview_sounds_oct_1976.html|archive-date = 16 October 2009|url-status = dead}}</ref> In a 2004 interview with ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'', Clapton referred to Enoch Powell as "outrageously brave".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2007/dec/01/ericclaptonisnotgod | title=Eric Clapton is not God | work=[[The Guardian]] | location=London | first=Kieron | last=Tyler | date=1 December 2007 | access-date=24 July 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150725013657/http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2007/dec/01/ericclaptonisnotgod | archive-date=25 July 2015 | url-status=live }}</ref> He said that the UK was "inviting people in as cheap labour and then putting them in ghettos".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/eric-s-old-post-colonial-blues-1.426495 | title=Eric's old post-colonial blues | newspaper=The Irish Times | first=Brian | last=Boyd | date=25 March 2005 | access-date=24 July 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150725013723/http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/eric-s-old-post-colonial-blues-1.426495 | archive-date=25 July 2015 | url-status=live }}</ref> In 2004, Clapton told an interviewer for ''[[Scotland on Sunday]]'', "There's no way I could be a racist. It would make no sense."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/review.cfm?id=408192004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071104143944/http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/review.cfm?id=408192004 |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 November 2007 |title=A sentimental journey |work=The Scotsman |access-date=22 August 2010 }}</ref> In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton said he was "deliberately oblivious" to racial conflict.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2195792,00.html|work=The Guardian|location=London|title=The gospel according to God|date=21 October 2007|access-date=2 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080127022130/http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2195792,00.html|archive-date=27 January 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> In a December 2007 interview with [[Melvyn Bragg]] on ''[[The South Bank Show]]'', Clapton said he was not a racist but still believed Powell's comments were relevant.<ref name=TW>{{cite web|work=[[The Week]]|url=http://www.theweek.co.uk/people/37315/night-eric-wasn%E2%80%99t-so-wonderful|title=The night Eric wasn't so wonderful|date=10 March 2008|access-date=10 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810204925/http://www.theweek.co.uk/people/37315/night-eric-wasn%E2%80%99t-so-wonderful|archive-date=10 August 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2018 Clapton stated he was "disgusted" with himself for his "[[cultural chauvinism|chauvinistic]]" and "[[fascistic]]" comments on stage. He added: "I sabotaged everything I got involved with. I was so ashamed of who I was, a kind of semi-racist, which didn't make sense. Half of my friends were black, I dated a black woman, and I championed black music."<ref>{{cite web|first=Tom|last=Sykes|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/eric-clapton-apologizes-for-racist-past-i-sabotaged-everything|title=Eric Clapton Apologizes for Racist Past: 'I Sabotaged Everything'|website=[[The Daily Beast]]|date=12 January 2018|access-date=3 July 2021|archive-date=19 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210619011314/https://www.thedailybeast.com/eric-clapton-apologizes-for-racist-past-i-sabotaged-everything|url-status=live}}</ref>