People are not "attempting to cancel" Eric Clapton. Eric Clapton is a has-been fixture of a bygone time. I too enjoy listening to "Tears In Heaven" when I need a nice cry, but that doesn't mean that in 2021 Eric Clapton is my guru on vaccines or literally anything else. He came to rise in a time when his perspective in the milieu of an anti-war movement and civil rights era was in full swing. There may be commonalities between the 1970s and 2020s but it's foolish and sentimental and honestly deluded to think that someone who had a powerful voice or impact 50 years ago should have the same degree of influence or credibility today in a completely different context. That doesn't mean they don't matter, hence there are plenty of anti-vaxxers who came of age in the 70s and others who didn't who appreciate Clapton's words, but why on earth would the masses give a shit about Clapton today? They don't.

Clapton also isn't a comedian so your comparison is faulty. Unless you were referring to Chappelle with confusing sentence structure (no offense); anyone can say offensive things with a large megaphone and "make people think." Would you like someone with a big funny megaphone make real cultural commentary on why child pornography should be legalized, why humans should be able to have sex with dogs and horses, and why we should legally be able to slaughter anyone we want anytime we like in terrorist attacks with bombs? If it was "a joke" how a comedian instructed audiences to develop bombs at home and advise them to blow people up at grocery stores and churches would that be a thought-provoking megaphone?

Or is the platform only "good" when it's actually something YOU agree with and want to have mocked/stigmatized?

You do realize that there are other avenues for critical thought and dialogue that don't involve a one-way soliloquy from a person whose only goal is to remain controversial and famous and talk at people without any multidirectional *conversations* or any willingness to expand their thinking process? Thinking that it's advisable or useful to listen to famous people who are famous and rich BECAUSE they don't give a shit about anyone or anything but money, especially when derived from pure controversy and bigotry is idiocracy at its best. You know there are many people who can make you think and all it requires is a little *reading* or participating in groups that are committed to discussing complex subjects respectfully.

The idea that only through mean-spirited and sarcastic humor where you don't know what's "real" or not is the only way to "make people think" is so cynical. But that's your prerogative. If you can only find humor through other people, especially people who are marginalized and suffering being further shat on, that reflects more on you than anything you allegedly fear about society.