Glastonbury in 2019
(Picture: PA Archive)Sir Lenny Henry has questioned the lack of diversity in audiences at UK festivals including Glastonbury as he called for better representation of ethnic minorities across British culture.
The 63-year-old Comic Relief founder – who shot to fame as the first black performer on the controversial Black And White Minstrel Show – made his remarks ahead of the release of his new two-part documentary about Caribbean culture in Britain later this month.
Speaking to the BBC’s Clive Myrie in an interview for the Radio Times, he said: “It’s interesting to watch Glastonbury and look at the audience and not see any black people there.
“I’m always surprised by the lack of black and brown faces at festivals. I think, ‘Wow, that’s still very much a dominant culture thing.’”
His comment comes as Glastonbury’s co-organiser Emily Eavis remarked that Stormzy becoming the festival’s first black solo British headliner in 2019 was “a little bit late”.
Speaking in a new BBC Two documentary, celebrating 50 years of the festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset, Eavis said: “He was representing the black community in a very predominantly white festival and obviously that’s a really important moment for us, but it’s also a little bit late maybe. We should have probably done it before.”
The Standard has contacted a representative for Glastonbury for comment.
Due to air on BBC 2 on June 22, Lenny Henry’s Caribbean Britain will feature a host of famous names from the arts including Sonia Boyce, David Harewood, Trevor Nelson and Benjamin Zephaniah sharing their stories and experiences of Caribbean culture in the UK.
Henry was born in Dudley in 1958 – a year after his parents arrived in the UK from Jamaica.
While he says the country has made great strides since his childhood in the 60s where he frequently experienced “casual racism,” he told Myrie that there is still much more work to be done where ethnic representation is concerned.
He said: “It’s great to have David Olusoga on television talking about black British history that goes back to Hadrian’s Wall.
“Somewhere the gatekeepers have changed, because now we’re allowed to have you on Mastermind. But how long did that take?
“We still want more representation because we deserve it. We are British citizens, we are colonials. We’ve been in this country, we have grown up in this country, we’ve contributed and a lot of us feel it still isn’t being reciprocated enough. That’s what this documentary is about.”
