Eh, I suspect Clapton has always been a blue-collar conservative and nativist. For all of his occasional embrace of the 1960’s rock excesses/peace &love it was his very, very gross drunken 1976 anti-immigrant tirade at a Birmingham concert supporting the far-right Enoch Powell that triggered the ‘Rock Against Racism’ movement in the UK. He has always steadfastly maintained he is not racist in part because he reveres Black American blues artists and dated Black women. But unlike Bowie (also involved in this particular fooferaw, but for him it comes off more like an arty fascist edgelord phase that he soon turned his back on) it has always come off to me a bit like the everyday racist that will still claim his Black fishing buddy is “one of the good ones.”
Though he did apparently apologize in 2018 for having been a ‘semi-racist’ wanker.
It is always a lie, no matter who says it. A person who is largely not racist/otherist does not tell people, they just let people observe it. It is just like how a truly smart person never declares that, because they do not have to.
Heard this one? “Clapton can’t be racist, he flew to Billy Preston while Billy was dying and held and kissed him!” Aww.
Once I heard an Englishman on NPR say “Collectively, Englishmen are the worst bastards in the world. Individually, an Englishman is the best friend you’ll ever have.” I mentioned this to an English friend and he confirmed that it is the truth.
We see this irreducible dichotomy playing out between the Clapton who kissed Billy and the Clapton who ranted “Keep Britain white!”