It seems hard to believe that someone who has embraced black music as much as Clapton has is someone whose rant at a 1976 gig in Birmingham UK, inspired the Rock Against racism campaign.

His words were as follows.

You decide

"Are there any foreigners in the audience tonight? If so, please put up your hands. W*gs I mean. I'm looking at you. Where are you? I'm sorry but some fucking w*g Arab grabbed my wife's bum you know. Surely got to be said. This is what all the foreigners and w*gs over here are like. Just disgusting. That's just the truth. 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 w*gs out. Get the c**ns out. Keep Britain white. I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism. It’s much heavier, man. F*cking w*gs, man. F*cking Saudis taking over London. B*stard w*gs. Britain is becoming overcrowded and Enoch will stop it and send them all back. The black w*gs and c**ns and Arabs and f*cking Jamaicans and f*cking… don’t belong here, we don’t want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don’t want any black w*gs and c**ns living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. We are a white country. I don’t want f*cking w*gs living next to me with their standards. This is Great Britain, a white country. What is happening to us, for f*ck’s sake?”

I've read interviews where he addressed his racist rant. He blamed it on drugs and alcohol....please. The drugs and alcohol brought out his deep-seated feelings. He also used that "I have black friends" line, lol.

People like him had no problem with the British conquering, colonizing & plundering non-white countries, but non-whites shouldn't be in his.

FUCK Eric Clapton.

So you're bringing up something said over 40 years ago. Even if he thought this at the time, doesn't mean he feels the same today. There's been actual Nazi skinheads who changed their minds later. There's athiests who became Christians. Sammy Davis Jr belonged to the Church Of Satan for a little white and then became a Jew.

MickyDolenz said:

I don't see any of you over in politics joining in on the discussion of the big fat orange turd and the racist things he said and did just this past week.......

PennyPurple said:

MickyDolenz said:

So you're bringing up something said over 40 years ago. Even if he thought this at the time, doesn't mean he feels the same today. There's been actual Nazi skinheads who changed their minds later. There's athiests who became Christians. Sammy Davis Jr belonged to the Church Of Satan for a little white and then became a Jew.

Well said Micky... and of course, Eric Clapton who used to be an addict has now been sober since 1987.

PennyPurple said:

I don't see any of you over in politics joining in on the discussion of the big fat orange turd and the racist things he said and did just this past week.......

Everyone already knows that Trump is a racist cow.That's old news You can't argue with his supporters about it.They accept him anyway.

RJOrion said:

PennyPurple said:

I don't see any of you over in politics joining in on the discussion of the big fat orange turd and the racist things he said and did just this past week.......

that would be an exercise in redundancy...most of the entire world knows Trump is an arrogant, racist oppressor, just like most of his predecessors in the highest political offices in America have been, historically...what exactly is there to discuss?...to argue back and forth with people who see, believe, and feel things differently?...arguing politics and religion with people from different cultures is a time consuming, no-win endeavor...i almost never look at those threads... im here for the music topics, and if those topics touch on racial issues, i will speak my mind...but politics and religion are peoples' personal beliefs... racism isnt a belief, its an action...

I'd rather talk about the racism going on today then what Clapton said in a fit 40 years ago. Can't do anything about 40 years ago, but we can sure speak up today about what's going on right now.

It wasn't cool 40 years ago and it's not cool today.

PennyPurple said:

Think that's bad, check out The Beatles original version of Get Back ... and people still think the sun shines out of their backsides ...

I don't know much about Eric Clapton but people do evolve. I'm not sure what "W*gs" means? Is it a British term? Whatever it is, I'm sure you can't spell it out on this board.

kitbradley said:

I don't know much about Eric Clapton but people do evolve. I'm not sure what "W*gs" means? Is it a British term? Whatever it is, I'm sure you can't spell it out on this board.

W_g is a racist term generally directed towards Italians/Sicilians/Greeks/Mediterranean people

People need to get over some degrees of drugging up past events. Let's review everyone's language and bigotry and phobia's and see who without sin can realy cast a stone.

People change.

Don't forget Rod Stewart's 1970 quote, "I think Enoch is the man … This country is overcrowded. The immigrants should be sent home." Good times for blatent racism were the 1970's, a long time ago though.

[Edited 7/22/19 7:36am]

OldFriends4Sale said:

kitbradley said:

I don't know much about Eric Clapton but people do evolve. I'm not sure what "W*gs" means? Is it a British term? Whatever it is, I'm sure you can't spell it out on this board.

W_g is a racist term generally directed towards Italians/Sicilians/Greeks/Mediterranean people

I think in this context w_g (the missing letter being "o") was one of the derogatory terms floating around the UK for a person of Indian or Pakistani heritage.

jaawwnn said:

Don't forget Rod Stewart's 1970 quote, "I think Enoch is the man … This country is overcrowded. The immigrants should be sent home." Good times for blatent racism were the 1970's, a long time ago though.

[Edited 7/22/19 7:36am]

Is that actually racism though?

I mean all countries and ethnic groups throught history have had that delima when it came down to other ethnic groups coming into 'their' area. It hits at the basic or people feeling threatened, lack of food/resources and some other things

OldFriends4Sale said:

jaawwnn said:

Don't forget Rod Stewart's 1970 quote, "I think Enoch is the man … This country is overcrowded. The immigrants should be sent home." Good times for blatent racism were the 1970's, a long time ago though.

[Edited 7/22/19 7:36am]

Is that actually racism though?

I mean all countries and ethnic groups throught history have had that delima when it came down to other ethnic groups coming into 'their' area. It hits at the basic or people feeling threatened, lack of food/resources and some other things

Coming from a Brit in 1970? Yes, it is a 100% racist statement. Conquer them, subjugate them, stripmine as many resources as you can from their land and ship it back to yours, bring them back to your home when you need their labour at as cheap a rate as possible and then kick them out when it's done and you don't want to see them anymore.

I'm not saying he thought much about what he was saying though, popstar as he was, i'm sure he doesn't stand by it.

[Edited 7/22/19 7:52am]

jaawwnn said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Is that actually racism though?

I mean all countries and ethnic groups throught history have had that delima when it came down to other ethnic groups coming into 'their' area. It hits at the basic or people feeling threatened, lack of food/resources and some other things

Coming from a Brit in 1970? Yes, it is a 100% racist statement. Conquer them, subjugate them, stripmine as many resources as you can from their land and ship it back to yours, bring them back to your home when you need their labour at as cheap a rate as possible and then kick them out when it's done and you don't want to see them anymore.

I'm not saying he thought much about what he was saying though, popstar as he was, i'm sure he doesn't stand by it.

[Edited 7/22/19 7:52am]

I was thinking xenophobia more specifically, a human stain.

OldFriends4Sale said:

jaawwnn said:

Coming from a Brit in 1970? Yes, it is a 100% racist statement. Conquer them, subjugate them, stripmine as many resources as you can from their land and ship it back to yours, bring them back to your home when you need their labour at as cheap a rate as possible and then kick them out when it's done and you don't want to see them anymore.

I'm not saying he thought much about what he was saying though, popstar as he was, i'm sure he doesn't stand by it.

[Edited 7/22/19 7:52am]

I was thinking xenophobia more specifically, a human stain.

I'm talking about a specific example though. Philosophically maybe it's more xenophobia than racism but what's the practical difference considering they managed to racialise the Irish as non-white for a long time.

When someone shows u who they are..........believe them.

Graycap23 said:

When someone shows u who they are..........believe them.

I 100% live by that now. That advice could have saved me a lot of heartache along the way during my life's journey. But, again, people evolve. Speaking for America, there was still a lot of antiquated ideologies people held on to in the 70s. A lot of things that were happening were still new. Women's rights, acceptance of African Americans, interracial marriage, more visability of the LGBT community, etc. There were a lot of horrible, hateful things people were saying in the 70s that were considered normal for that period of time. The 70s were a lot of things but that decade was not even remotely politically correct. I would hope that a lot of people have evolved on many issues since 1976.

Graycap23 said:

When someone shows u who they are..........believe them.

Be careful about that, it might be true in some instances, but that could turn around and bite you in the backside, hoping someone doesn't hold something you might have done, said or believed in your past, against you.

Humans are flawed, and we also are not set in stone. People repent.

Graycap23 said:

RJOrion said:

Graycap23 said:

When someone shows u who they are..........believe them.

so true...those are 100% words to live by... and people that defend racists and their racist words and/or actions, are complicit in said racism..

com·plic·it

/kəmˈplisit/

adjective

adjective: complicit

involved with others in an illegal activity or wrongdoing.

"all of these people are complicit in some criminal conspiracy"

OldFriends4Sale said: