Eric Clapton has issued a statement saying he will not play any venues that require proof of vaccination against COVID-19.
Clapton’s statement was shared via the Telegram account of architect/noted anti-lockdown activist Robin Monotti Graziadei and reads, “Following the PM’s announcement on Monday the 19th of July 2021 I feel honour bound to make an announcement of my own: I wish to say that I will not perform on any stage where there is a discriminated audience present. Unless there is provision made for all people to attend, I reserve the right to cancel the show.”
Per the BBC, U.K. Prime Minster Borris Johnson announced this week that by the end of September, people will need to show proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to enter any nightclub or any other large crowd venue.
Clapton has been very vocal about lockdown measures and his overall feelings related to the coronavirus pandemic. However, back in June, he said his opinions have led him to be “ostracized” by his friends and family.
“I’ve tried to reach out to fellow musicians. I just don’t hear from them anymore,” said Clapton in an interview with Oracle Films. “My phone doesn’t ring very often. I don’t get that many texts and emails anymore. It’s quite noticeable.” He would go on to say regarding his relationships with friends and family members, “I was ostracized, and I could feel that everywhere. I could feel alienation because I held a different view.”
Clapton famously appeared on Van Morrison’s anti-lockdown song “Stand And Deliver,” which was released in November 2020. He was so against the U.K.’s lockdown measure he told Oracle Films, “I thought quite strongly about taking my family away from England. We’ll go and live somewhere else, we’ll start somewhere else.”
Clapton received the AstraZeneca vaccine in early 2021, but he would go on to recount “disastrous” side effects for two weeks which included numbness in his hands and feet and fearing never being able to play guitar again.
Considering all of this, Clapton told Oracle Films, “I believe most of all in free speech and freedom of movement. And life and love and kindness. I’ve seen scorn and contempt from both sides. And I get caught in the crossfire a lot. But I don’t really feel educated enough to know enough about either of these areas.”
