Clapton has always acknowledged his debt to the Blues masters whose phrases he painstakingly learned by copying one phrase at a time off records, listening, then trying to duplicate what he'd heard , then moving the needle back and listening again. There were no guitar schools or TAB books or video lessons back then! I recall him stating in an early Guitar Player magazine interview that his style was composed of 1) these borrowed phrases and 2) lines he made up to connect the former. He said the latter comprised "his style" but that he much preferred the "BB and Freddie lines". Seems to me it's important to consider how Black Blues masters responded to Clapton-- typically with genuine respect for his dedication to learning the art and craft of Blues guitar-- before bringing up the topic of cultural appropriation. This process of "borrowing" is deeply ingrained in a tradition that, for a very long time, could only be learned by a process of listening and imitation, whatever he color of the players.
Someone in this thread dismissed EC as a "hack", whatever that's supposed to mean, as if anyone can learn to play at EC's level. Eric can be accused of many things but not disrespect for or laziness in regards to his devotion to, the genre.
Blues is easy to play poorly and many do. It is composed of very simple building blocks, which means there is no place to hide-- the burden lies entirely upon the sophistication of the player! I don't ever recall Clapton claiming he was the Greatest Blues player or Greatest Guitar player-- as far as I'm aware, he's been quite humble in this regard. After all, for much of his career, the masters he'd copied were still alive and playing. There was a PBS tv special that came out in conjunction with the From the Cradle album and Clapton's abiding passion as a scholar and student of the Blues is deeply apparent throughout that video. Egotistic bravado is conspicuously absent.
I'm not a Clapton fanboy by any means (when it comes to British Blues players, I prefer Peter Green) but fair is fair.
Here endeth my rant on this topic.