Eric Clapton helped raise $1 million for Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign at a private fundraiser on Monday night, Kennedy’s campaign announced Tuesday.

Clapton and his band performed at an event, which raised a total of $2.2 million, including $1 million for Kennedy’s campaign and $1.2 million for a political action committee supporting him.

“I am deeply grateful to Eric Clapton for bringing his musical artistry and rebellious spirit to my gathering in Los Angeles last night,” Kennedy said in the press release, which described the Monday night event as a “once-in-a-lifetime musical performance.”

Kennedy’s campaign announced in late August that Clapton would perform at the private fundraiser, which reportedly offered tickets starting at $3,300, up to a maximum of $6,600.

Kennedy and Clapton have both been outspoken about their skepticism of vaccines, which has resulted in fierce blowback from the public.

In the statement Tuesday, Kennedy praised Clapton but did not mention their shared skepticism about COVID-19 vaccines.

“I sometimes think that in our divided society, it is music rather than any kind of intellectual agreement that has the most potential to bring us together again,” Kennedy said in the press release.

“Eric sings from the depths of the human condition. If he sees in me the possibility of bringing unity to our country, it is only possible because artists like him invoke a buried faith in the limitless power of human beings to overcome any obstacle,” he added.

Kennedy is one of two long-shot Democratic presidential bids to challenge incumbent President Biden for the Democratic nomination. While neither Kennedy nor author Marianne Williamson have made any significant headway against the president, Kennedy has been critical of efforts of establishment Democrats to block any serious threat to Biden’s campaign.

  • fubo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Eric “Keep Britain White” Clapton?

    Dude’s been a racist assbag longer than I’ve been alive.

  • xantoxis@lemmy.world
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    If the horrible crap coming out of RFK Jr or Eric Clapton was previously unknown to you: they both suck pretty hard. If you’re like “Oh, Tears in Heaven is so meaningful” please realize that he fucking sucks, and anyone he’s giving a million dollars to also fucking sucks.

    • Kengaro0@lemmy.world
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      As always, it’s best to separate the art from the artist. Just don’t give them your money.

      • nickwitha_k (he/him)@lemmy.sdf.org
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        Partial disagreement. The artist and art, by their nature, are indelibly bound. If you can enjoy the art without benefiting a horrible person that made it, sure, but any penny or ounce of clout given to them is positive reinforcement for their being awful.

        • Tedesche@lemmy.world
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          but any penny or ounce of clout given to them is positive reinforcement for their being awful.

          No, it’s not. It’s a reinforcement for their artistic talent. That’s what you’re paying for—their art, not their political views (unless their art expresses their political views, in which case I can’t imagine you’d like their art and thus wouldn’t buy it). You can support a person for one thing without supporting other aspects of their character or behavior.

            • Tedesche@lemmy.world
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              Yes, you can. Watch.

              Kennedy’s campaign announced in late August that Clapton would perform at the private fundraiser, which reportedly offered tickets starting at $3,300, up to a maximum of $6,600.

              You like Clapton’s music, but disagree with his politics, so you buy his albums, but don’t attend his fundraising performances. I can say with virtual certainty that everyone at that event agreed with his politics too. You can’t say with that level of certainty that everyone who buys his music does.

              • nickwitha_k (he/him)@lemmy.sdf.org
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                Hard disagreement there. Clapton wouldn’t have the money or draw for political fundraising if people ignored his racist ass and shamed him and those that support him. Giving anti-social people a microphone lets them use it to detriment of society.

                Add to that that he has a history of literally expressing his views during his performance.

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            You sound like the kind of person who collects Hitler’s shitty watercolors. “It’s just art, but I only collect his shitty watercolors, not shitty watercolors by thousands of forgotten German art students from over a century ago. I just like the art”.

            • Tedesche@lemmy.world
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              And you sound like someone who likes to call everyone who disagrees with them a Nazi, because it makes you feel like you’ve made a point or something. Fuck off.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        Maybe, but sometimes they can’t be separated. I don’t listen to Eric Clapton’s music because he’s a racist piece of shit and I don’t watch Woody Allen’s movies because he’s a fucking pedo.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            Hey, Woody Allen has made some terrific movies. So has Roman Polanski. I don’t care anymore. I can’t justify watching them and I can’t justify listening to Clapton (or Michael Jackson) no matter how talented a musician he is.

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          It’s kind of an extreme stance, are people going to stop listening to the Beatles, Pink Floyd… all these great bands that had shitty people? Can you discard Hitchcock films because he was a piece of shit? So many pieces of art were made by bad people.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            You can listen to whatever you like. I’m not telling anyone what to listen to. You might re-read what I wrote.

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    What’s the difference between a child and a bag of cocaine?

    Eric Clapton would never let a bag of cocaine fall out of a window.

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      Of the many jokes I’ve heard over the years, I’ve forgotten most. This one, which I heard about 20 years ago, I’ve never forgotten, and it still hasn’t gotten old.

      Just like Connor Clapton.

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      Always has been. Here’s his drunk on-stage rant from 1976 in Birmingham.

      ** Content warning: Racism and racist slurs. **

      “Do we have any foreigners in the audience tonight? If so, please put up your hands. 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 wogs out. Get the coons out. Keep Britain white. I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism. It’s much heavier, man. Fucking wogs, man. Fucking Saudis taking over London. Bastard wogs. Britain is becoming overcrowded and Enoch will stop it and send them all back. The black wogs and coons and Arabs and fucking Jamaicans don’t belong here, we don’t want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don’t want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. This is Great Britain, a white country, what is happening to us, for fuck’s sake? Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!” - Eric Clapton

      Enoch Powell was a conservative party politician running for election, incidentally.

      Clapton has always been truly awful and this is completely in character for him.

  • Ech@lemm.ee
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    Ah yes, Eric Clapton. The voice of unity and inspiration!

    “Do we have any foreigners in the audience tonight? If so, please put up your hands. 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 wogs out. Get the coons out. Keep Britain white. I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism. It’s much heavier, man. Fucking wogs, man. Fucking Saudis taking over London. Bastard wogs. Britain is becoming overcrowded and Enoch will stop it and send them all back. The black wogs and coons and Arabs and fucking Jamaicans don’t belong here, we don’t want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don’t want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. This is Great Britain, a white country, what is happening to us, for fuck’s sake? Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!” - Eric Clapton, 1976

    • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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      A lot of people were racist as hell in the 70s and 50 years is a long time to possibly change. I don’t know anything about Clapton beyond hearing his music. He still a racist xenophobe?

      • supert@lemmy.sdfeu.org
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        He said he regretted it, he was young and stupid and he no longer holds those views.

        But, a lot of people were also not racist in the 1970s.

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          Most of the people that weren’t racist in the 70s had reasons to be not racist in the 70s. Mostly you grew up in a mixed neighborhood and had friends of other races, or your parents weren’t racist. Chances are if you’d have taken 100 people who weren’t racist and threw them in families in some white kkk town in Alabama to grow up, 95 of them would have been racist.

          If they guy apologized ages ago for it and never said any other racist shit for 40 years I’m not going to hold it against him. I’ll just hold him backing Kennedy against him. I don’t know about Clapton, but I know RFK JR is a twat. Lol

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    You know what they say, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go with Eric Clapton and RFK Jr, go fuck yourself.

  • BigFig@lemmy.world
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    And why exactly is a British man being allowed to raise funds for an American political campaign?

    • paintbucketholder@lemmy.world
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      Because there are no restrictions for the moneyed class.

      You’re a multi-millionaire and you want to hold a little $6,600-a-ticket private concert to raise a couple of millions for a fellow multi-millionaire so that he can spread his toxic ideas while running for office? Go right ahead.

      “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.”

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      The Supreme Court basically ruled that money for political campaigns can now come from anyone, anywhere. Even secretly is fine.

  • pudcollar@lemmy.ml
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    Not gonna listen to his songs, but I’ll torrent and seed his discography for this.

    • idiomaddict@feddit.de
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      Honestly one of my favorite musicians from the pure music side of things. Tales of brave Ulysses is incredible and white room goes so hard.

      Please do seed, as this is the least objectionable political idea I’ve ever heard from Clapton. Fuck him.

      Edit: every single time, I say ballad of brave Ulysses, I don’t know why I can’t remember it

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Eric Clapton helped raise $1 million for Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign at a private fundraiser on Monday night, Kennedy’s campaign announced Tuesday.

    “I am deeply grateful to Eric Clapton for bringing his musical artistry and rebellious spirit to my gathering in Los Angeles last night,” Kennedy said in the press release, which described the Monday night event as a “once-in-a-lifetime musical performance.”

    Kennedy’s campaign announced in late August that Clapton would perform at the private fundraiser, which reportedly offered tickets starting at $3,300, up to a maximum of $6,600.

    Kennedy and Clapton have both been outspoken about their skepticism of vaccines, which has resulted in fierce blowback from the public.

    In the statement Tuesday, Kennedy praised Clapton but did not mention their shared skepticism about COVID-19 vaccines.

    “I sometimes think that in our divided society, it is music rather than any kind of intellectual agreement that has the most potential to bring us together again,” Kennedy said in the press release.


    The original article contains 293 words, the summary contains 165 words. Saved 44%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!