In a recent interview with The Real Music Observer, Eric Clapton revealed his actions caused Roger Waters a lot of suffering.
The guitarist was asked about people telling him to stick to music instead of politics. He said he doesn’t respond well to being told what to do and will often do the opposite. Then, Eric said the following about Roger:
“I love Roger [Waters] you know, I love him, we are brothers and he goes his way about it, and it takes a lot of guts, and he suffers from it terribly. I’ve seen him sit on the window ledge in tears and say ‘It’s morning here in Manhattan and I’m in tears again,’ you know?”
He believes in spreading a ‘positive message of hope’:
“I can’t do that, I am on the verge of tears a lot when I think about what’s going on and the evil there is, but I also have to carry a positive message of hope, and he does too. Music is a healing agent. I believe that there is a system of thinking about how you conduct yourself in that realm, and to be responsible not to offend people.”
Both Waters And Clapton Received Backlash In The Past
Waters faced criticism for comments on the Russia-Ukraine war and for using insensitive images in his concerts. He wore a Nazi-style uniform in Germany last year. Clapton has also faced backlash for his political views and supporting controversial figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Last year, Clapton tried to donate $5,000 to Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign, but his attempt was invalid because he was British and exceeded the donation limit. In an interview on YouTube, the guitarist discussed his attempted donation after articles linking him to the politician and anti-vaxxer surfaced:
“That’s good, the more the better! He’s a great man, I admire him. I tried to donate some money very naively being an English citizen, apparently it was illegal. You can’t do that, you know? You have to be so… he asked me to talk to him like [how] we talk and he’s about the only other person I talk like this to.”
Clapton also received criticism when he said he didn’t believe in making the vaccine mandatory and wouldn’t perform in venues that require vaccine certificates.