Guitarist Clapton now ‘ashamed’ of racist outburst at 1976 concert Rock legend apologises for notorious rant in Birmingham
ROCK guitar legend Eric Clapton has apologised for his racist rant at a Birmingham gig in the 1970s.
The 72-year-old rock and roll veteran infamously backed Enoch Powell during a show at the Birmingham Odeon.
He had arrived for the New Street concert on August 5, 1976 drunk and angry.
“Listen to me, man!” he said. “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.
“We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. We are a white country.”
In a speech peppered with disparaging words for immigrants, Clapton added: “I don’t want f***ing ***s living next to me with their standards.
“This is Great Britain, a white country. What is happening to us, for f***’s sake?”
The rant, which echoed Birmingham-born MP Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech – made eight years earlier at the nearby Midland Hotel – has resurfaced with the screening of the biographical documentary Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars.
Speaking at a Q&A session in London following the screening, the 18-time Grammy winner said he was ashamed by the footage.
The outburst, which helped spur the Rock Against Racism movement, meant he labelled a racist for many years.
He has subsequently apologised many times, blaming his addiction to drink and drugs for the rant.
In the documentary, Clapton was – who has been clean for three decades now – reveals he would drink a bottle of cognac by midday, before snorting cocaine at lunch. After watching the unedited footage, which is included in Lili Zanuck’s film, the guitar hero reportedly admitted: “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.” Clapton believes much of his addiction can be traced to the fact that he was brought up believing his grandparents were his parents and his mother was his sister. When he discovered the truth, he says his mother rejected him.
The film also covers the 1991 death of his four-year-old son, Conor, who fell from the 53rd floor of a New York apartment building.
Clapton says the tragedy helped him get sober, and to exist from that point on “to honour the memory of my son.”
He also discusses his romance with Pattie Boyd, with whom he fell in love when she was married to George Harrison.
“I knew it was wrong, George was my best friend,” he said. “But I felt the compulsion toward her. She was the most incredible woman I had ever met.
“Even though they were married, I wanted her, even though she was unavailable.”
Clapton married Pattie in 1979 but they split nine years later.
“There is no doubt. I went into a cave of self-pity and despair and the only thing that was the light at the end of the tunnel was this music,” he added.