It looks like Eric Clapton did a lot more than just write rubbish anti-COVID songs according to a new story.
As reported by Rolling Stone, the guitarist donated £1,000 to the U.K. anti-lockdown music group Jam For Freedom earlier this year. He also supposedly lent the group his own van for transportation.
Jam For Freedom are an anti-lockdown group who describe their purpose as “spearheading the pro-freedom revolution happening globally as a response to restrictions on our basic human rights to work, travel and live”. They try to achieve this by playing free shows in public spaces.
Clapton donated £1,000 to a GoFundMe page set up to support the group, its founder Cambel McLaughlin told Rolling Stone. McLaughlin initially thought it might have been fake but emailed the account listed with the donation and received a text back from Clapton himself.
“It was something complimentary, along the lines of, ‘Hey, it’s Eric – great work you’re doing,’,” McLaughlin revealed.
McLaughlin also said that he and Clapton spoke on the phone, with the musician offering Jam For Freedom his own six-person VW Transporter van to use temporarily, an offer the group were happy to accept.
Clapton supposedly wasn’t finished there, also giving the group more money to go towards their own van and offering to sit in with them during one of their performances.
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Clapton and McLaughlin then met in a studio, where McLaughlin claims that Clapton informed him he hadn’t been able to play guitar for months because of after-effects from the COVID-19 vaccine.
“We did want to have a jam, but because of his condition at the time, it was tough for him to play,” he told Rolling Stone, “and to play outside when his fingers are cold because of the side effects.” Back in May, Clapton was vocal about his “disastrous” experience with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
The musician has been an outspoken opponent of lockdowns and other restrictions, releasing his anti-vaccination song ‘This Has Gotta Stop’ in August. He had previously appeared alongside fellow skeptic Van Morrison on last year’s anti-lockdown tirade ‘Stand For Freedom’.
And despite stating that he wouldn’t play live music venues requiring proof of vaccination for entry, he did just that at a New Orleans show last month.
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