Sir Lenny Henry on UK festivals.

Here's most of the lineup - something for everyone I would have imagined:

To even be successful in getting a ticket is something they sell out as soon as the booking is open. I have never given much thought to the fans at the festival in regard of ethnicity, I have not been to Glastonbury myself as never have been able to get a ticket. Stormsy has appeared there and he appeals to many fans of white brown black skin I never think of colour being black/white it is not as clear cut as that.
I like Sir Lenny he is a funny man liked it when he was with Dawn French they made a good couple. I hope he is just not getting old and grumpy in his ways and looking for something that is not there.

Surely it's related to the type of music on offer? I'm going to one on Saturday where it's likely the audience will be diverse because the music genre and the musicians are as well.

Sorry if the Ed Sheeran was misleading, but Glastonbury has gone up from £5 to £248
www.vouchercodes.co.uk/press/infographics/glastonbury-ticket-prices-over-time#:~:text=VoucherCodes%20has%20taken%20a%20look,cost%20just%20%C2%A35%20each!
Of course middle class and middle aged people can enjoy music. It's not a question of that but of whole sections of society being priced out from enjoying live music.

I think there are huge racial divides in the entertainment business, not just in festivals. I remember watching a programme about black British comedians which included some clips from live gigs. The audience was almost entirely black. White comedians tend to have audiences which are predominantly white. There are a few people who work both communities but not many.

The funny thing is they put a photo up, of what looked like Glastonbury, by the side of the article ( not sure where I read it) and there were some girls at the front who looked mixed race , (please don't pull me up on my terminology) . I was not even aware of who went to these big festivals but should he not be asking the people of colour why they are not going? Is because they don't like that type of music? which I can't see as there is always a good mix of artists , financial , again I can't see that as 80℅ are students of which there are plenty of students of colour. I would say Brixton festival is always 75% people of colour and at one time you would see very few white faces at that so perhaps it is just a culture thing. I think Lenny Henry better watch out is he turning into another Billy Connolly and pontificating about things rather than doing what he is good at.

CaravanSerai

Thank you, I’ll have a look at that later. There’s an interesting 2021 DEFRA report on barriers to rural areas and green space, and the CPRE have done some work around ethnicity and access. Shockingly, only 1% of visitors to UK National Parks are by BME people.

Why are people so annoyed about this?

Lenny Henry made a comment in an interview which is probably true and people are bristling. I haven't read the article or seen the interview so I don't think its right to comment. So, I can't see if he was saying it was a problem, but in what we've seen there's no suggestions of discrimination and Sir Lenny can say anything he likes. Same as Sir Billy. And neither of them needs to "watch out".

I don't think people are annoyed; they can't quite see the point of his comments.

is his comment racist?

No of course not.

I have spent most of my life in diverse communities. My choice of music and pastimes were a source of amusement to most of my younger friends of colour.
They thought how I spent my time sounded rather boring. The folk music that had been part of my life since childhood was also boring. I say 'most' because of course there were people with different tastes, but just talking about the prevailing attitude.

They weren't being unkind, they just didn't 'get it'. But if your entertainment budget is limited (whose isn't?) you spend your money on what you know you will like, and you go along with your friends because that makes a better outing.

I was asked along on some of their 'clubbing' nights to see acts, and once went when one of our colleagues was dancing. I thought it awful - I hated the loud music, could hardly see or hear anything, and spent much more money than at my local folk club. I was polite about it of course, but I didn't 'get it' either!

It's boring to state the obvious. It isn't for people who are in the majority (white) group, to say what is and what isn't racism.

Who is that aimed at, GagaJo?

LH for commenting, lemsip for asking if his comment was racist, or volver for saying it wasn't?

When I first started going to football, it was predominantly white men. Gradually over sixty years, it has become less male, and less white.
If you were a football-watching woman in the 60s, you could go, look around and think that maybe this wasn't where you should be - hence being put off. I wouldn't have been thrilled to be told, by a man, I was being tiresome for articulating that.
Lenny Henry is in an interesting position, a sort of elder statesman of British entertainment, a respected figure and mentor to some. As with experienced, well-respected figures, they speak, I listen. I might not agree, but I don't want them not to speak.

Doodledog

Who is that aimed at, GagaJo?

LH for commenting, lemsip for asking if his comment was racist, or volver for saying it wasn't?

Anyone. A person of colour makes a statement about racism. Unless we have experience of living as a person of colour, we don't really have the experience to disagree.

He didn't make a statement about racism. He stated that there was a lack of black and brown faces at music festivals in Britain. Which is true.

And people have interpreted that as a comment about racism and even said he should stay in his lane.

We need to grow up in this country.

The discussion it engendered was about racism. And he became the target of racism because of it.

So safe to say, it related to racism or at least, to the continuing dominance (social, cultural, financial) of white culture.

I think we may be agreeing GagaJo.

I'm not a fan of Lenny Henry, however I think he has noted a fact that there are few black people at Glastonbury. I have been to clubs where black people massively predominate and the type of music was the factor there.

Today though, Charlene White was talking about the lack of black dolls here when she was small. Her mother would ask Charlene's uncle to bring black dolls over from the USA. She is 41 so a child of the eighties.

I am 73 and used to see black dolls [admittedly in the minority] in the 50's in the local toy shops and really, really wanted one. [I never got one though!] So I think what she said was her own experience but wrong.

so He stated that there was a lack of black and brown faces at music festivals in Britain
...............................................
shall a coachload be shipped in at the next one then?

lemsip

*so He stated that there was a lack of black and brown faces at music festivals in Britain*
...............................................
shall a coachload be shipped in at the next one then?

QED.

Sorry in advance if this comes over as a sermon...

The comment that Sir Lenny made was entirely true. I still haven't read the interview, but I believe it was made in the context of how Caribbean people are still not represented in some parts of society today.

So fatuous comments about shipping people in just come across as minimising the issue and laughing at what he says.

Anyway, the TV program which led to the interview is on the BBC next week, we can all watch it.

missingmarietta

I'm not a fan of Lenny Henry, however I think he has noted a fact that there are few black people at Glastonbury. I have been to clubs where black people massively predominate and the type of music was the factor there.

Today though, Charlene White was talking about the lack of black dolls here when she was small. Her mother would ask Charlene's uncle to bring black dolls over from the USA. She is 41 so a child of the eighties.

I am 73 and used to see black dolls [admittedly in the minority] in the 50's in the local toy shops and really, really wanted one. [I never got one though!] So I think what she said was her own experience but wrong.

I think that her experience is pretty standard actually. When I had my daughter in the mid 1980s, there was a definite lack of Black representation in childrens toys. There may have been a single Black Barbie or Raggedy Ann, but they were token Black dolls. It wasn't common.

My Mother bought my DD a horrible, cheap Black doll, just because it was the only one she could find. I found it again when I cleared her house out a few months ago and it really was awful. Only one step away from the racist caricature of the gollywog.

My daughter had an experience with a school friend at the time. Similar to Charlene White experience, there were no magazines for Black women (or none that we could find) in the 1980s in the UK. We used to get them from the US. One of my DD's friends asked why she had to have a magazine specifically for Black women/girls. So my DD sat down with her friend, and flicked through her friend's mags. A sea of white. No other colours, other than possibly the very occasional photo of Naomi Campbell.

This is lived experience. Unless you are of colour, you will in all likelihood have no understanding/memory of this.

That horrible racist Alf Garnet didn't finish on UK TV until 1992. The 1980s weren't any kind of decade of inclusivity.

The horrible racist Alf Garnett was satire.