Crossword Genius

Cockney artist, as it were, supporting diverse views (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

rainbow

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'it were supporting diverse views' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.

'cockney artist as' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'artist' could be 'ra' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts) and 'ra' is found in the answer.
'as' could be 'in' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'in' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'bow' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for rainbow that I've seen before include "Heavenly phenomenon" , "Natural arch of colours" , "There's a pot of gold at the end of it" , "Whole range of colours" , "colours in the sky" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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