According to Eric Clapton, prominent anti-vaxxer, anyone who has received the COVID-19 vaccine has been “hypnotized.” The “Wonderful Tonight” hitmaker, 76, recently appeared on the Real Music Observer YouTube channel to discuss his anti-vaccination stance, and told viewers that his career “had almost gone anyway” until his campaign against conventional medicine took off.
The rock musician spoke with channel host David Spuria about his negative experience with the AstraZeneca vaccine and its side effects, claimed that anyone who has taken a COVID vaccine is a victim of “mass formation hypnosis,” and also talked about his anti-vax collaborative song with Van Morrison in 2020.
Mass formation hypnosis has been widely discredited by scientists around the world, and it refers to an attempt to hypnotize groups of people to follow messages against their will. Clapton believes this, (and not proven scientific information regarding COVID-19 and protective measures against it) is why anyone would choose to be vaccinated.
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“I remembered seeing little things on YouTube which were like subliminal advertising,” Clapton said on the show. “It had been going on for a long time: that thing about “you will own nothing and you will be happy.” He continued, “And I thought, “What’s that mean?” And bit by bit, I put a rough kind of jigsaw puzzle together. And that made me even more resolute.”
Clapton told Spuria that he has lost fans and support from his family and fellow musicians ever since he began sharing anti-vax and anti-lockdown statements.
“Over the last year, there’s been a lot of disappearing – a lot of dust around, with people moving away quite quickly,” Clapton said. Regarding his family, Clapton added, “Inside my family, that became quite pivotal. I’ve got teenage girls, and an older girl who’s in her thirties, and they’ve all had to kind of give me leeway because I haven’t been able to convince any of them.”
The musician also noted, “I would try to reach out to fellow musicians and sometimes I just don’t hear from them […] My phone doesn’t ring very often. I don’t get that many texts and emails anymore.”
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This isn’t the first time that controversy has surrounded Clapton and divided his fanbase. From anti-immigration rants to “full-tilt-racist” beliefs (as Clapton said in his own words), former fans continue to find harrowing words from the rock star over the years and discuss them on Twitter.
As you might recall, Clapton revealed that he would collaborate with fellow rock musician Van Morrison for a 2020 song, “Stand and Deliver,” with an anti-vaccination theme. Twitter users, including actress Jameela Jamil, analyzed its lyrics and also spoke about a resurfaced racist 1976 rant from Clapton.
Jamil shared a screenshot of a transcript of the moment Clapton asked “foreigners” at a 1976 show to raise their hands before suggesting they “should all leave.” The rant when on. He called England “a white country” made “for white people,” and admitted to the ordeal years later.
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Clapton spoke with Variety in November 2020 about the song with Morrison and said that he found it “deeply upsetting” to see live events canceled due to lockdown restrictions (implemented to stop the spread of the coronavirus).”There are many of us who support Van and his endeavors to save live music; he is an inspiration,” Clapton told the publication, referring to Morrison’s several recent songs protesting lockdowns, including one where he compares the COVID-19 protective measure to slavery.
From anti-vaccination stances to documented racist rants, Clapton continues to make headlines (for reasons other than music) as the three-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee makes rifts among classic rock fans.
