Lenny Henry says not enough black people in audience at Glasto!

[Crimson Dynamo]

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/06/14/09/59046727-10914419-Lenny_Henry_pictured_in_the_BBC_s_Black_And_White_ Minstrel_Show-a-23_1655197121963.jpg

'It's interesting to look at the audience and not see any black people there': Sir
Lenny Henry questions lack of diversity at Glastonbury and says he is 'always
surprised' to see so few black and Asian faces in festival crowds


British "comic" Lenny Henry has questioned the lack of diversity in audiences at British festivals
He singled out Glastonbury, saying he is 'interested' by the absence of BAME faces in the crowd
Sir Lenny shot to fame as the first black performer on the controversial Black And White Minstrel Show
It comes after Glastonbury organisers called Stormzy's 2019 headline performance 'a little bit late maybe'


'It's interesting to watch Glastonbury and look at the audience and not see
any black people there.


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10914419/Lenny-Henry-says-surprised-lack-black-people-audience-Glastonbury.html?login#readerCommentsCommand-message-field

[Oliver_W]

... okay?

You can't force people to buy tickets and attend something they don't want to.

[Niamh.]

... okay?

You can't force people to buy tickets and attend something they don't want to.

tbf just from reading what's in the opening post, it seems like he's just curious to know why that is

[Crimson Dynamo]

it could be (heaven forbid) that the vast majority of people in the UK are white and also that festivals where the audience is mainly black and Asian are not on TV?

[Alf]

tbf just from reading what's in the opening post, it seems like he's just curious to know why that isMy guess would be that if people arne't in attendance then they probably didn't buy a ticket to attend. Crazy thought, I know! but that's all I can come up with.

[Niamh.]

My guess would be that if people arne't in attendance then they probably didn't buy a ticket to attend. Crazy thought, I know! but that's all I can come up with.

https://media1.giphy.com/media/SVrPB615uvMgeThHrR/giphy.gif

[arista]

Of course he would say that.


I wish he would do a
Comedy Show

[arista]

... okay?

You can't force people to buy tickets and attend something they don't want to.


Sold Out

[bots]

lets force people to attend it to get some diversity, that would go down well

[Oliver_W]

Of course he would say that.


I wish he would do a
Comedy Show

See, now I wish he wasn't funny, so I could make a facetious crack about having to wait decades for any comedy shows from him.

[user104658]

It's the illusion of representation I think. Proportionately, if everyone at random was assigned tickets to attend, fewer than 1 in 50 would be black because that's just the maths of population demographics in the UK. There'd also be twice as many Asian people in the crowd as black people.

There's two possible explanations here for why people don't think that accurately respresents the population;

1) They're from London which has a (much) higher percentage of non-white people than the rUK.

2) They think the UK has the same or similar demographics to the US (which we don't).


But yeah the basic maths is, if 1 in 50 faces in the crowd was a black person, then the festival was just as attractive to black people as white people. If 10% of the crowd is black people then it was FAR more attractive to that demographic.

[Crimson Dynamo]

It's the illusion of representation I think. Proportionately, if everyone at random was assigned tickets to attend, fewer than 1 in 50 would be black because that's just the maths of population demographics in the UK. There'd also be twice as many Asian people in the crowd as black people.

There's two possible explanations here for why people don't think that accurately respresents the population;

1) They're from London which has a (much) higher percentage of non-white people than the rUK.

2) They think the UK has the same or similar demographics to the US (which we don't).


But yeah the basic maths is, if 1 in 50 faces in the crowd was a black person, then the festival was just as attractive to black people as white people. If 10% of the crowd is black people then it was FAR more attractive to that demographic.

If you watch the average ad break on TV you would be forgiven for thinking it was a 50:50 ratio

:puzzled:

[Redway]

If certain people don’t want to go to the festival they don’t want to go. No-one’s stopping anyone.

[Mystic Mock]

tbf just from reading what's in the opening post, it seems like he's just curious to know why that is

Maybe younger generation black people aren't into Rock Music unfortunately.

[GoldHeart]

lets force people to attend it to get some diversity, that would go down well

I doubt that what he means

[Crimson Dynamo]

I doubt that what he means

just what does he mean?

[rusticgal]

See, now I wish he wasn't funny, so I could make a facetious crack about having to wait decades for any comedy shows from him.


I thought the only person that found Lenny Henry funny was…Lenny Henry :laugh:

[rusticgal]

I doubt that what he means



Knowing Lenny Henry…it’s exactly what he meant.

[GoldHeart]

Knowing Lenny Henry…it’s exactly what he meant.

What's that suppose to mean

[rusticgal]

What's that suppose to mean


It meant that the context of his message was exactly what you thought it didn’t mean….he was pointing out the lack of diversity which is something he has always at any opportunity pointed out.
But it’s a ridiculous statement being that ANYONE can buy tickets….

It’s just Lenny Henry trying to be clever and spark a debate….

[Cherie]

Sir Lenny Henry's comments about a lack of diversity at Glastonbury Festival has been called out by Bob Marley's son, Ziggy.

The 63-year-old actor and comedian had said that you won't "see any black people" at Worthy Farm and that he is "always surprised by the lack of black and brown faces at festivals" and that this was "still very much a dominant culture thing."

Speaking to TalkTV’s The News Desk tonight, 53-year-old musician Ziggy has challenged that view.

Ziggy said: "I've stopped looking at skin colour. You know, I don't really focus on that anymore. We look at humanity. We're all human beings."

He went on to add: " So, I don't really focus on the colour of people's skin."


https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bob-marleys-son-hits-back-27314758?int_source=taboola&int_medium=display&int_campaign=organic

:clap1:

[user104658]

The GOAL of having a world where the colour of peoples skin is irrelevant and everyone can be “colour blind” is ultimately a positive one, but to suggest that we’re anywhere near that in todays world and can just sort of choose to pretend that race is not an issue is … questionable… and a privileged thing to be able to do.

It sort of makes me think of wealthy people saying “money doesn’t matter to me!”

[bots]

the problem with viewing everyone the same is that it attempts to homogenise people, where their origins actually form a large part of who they are. People are all different, and thank goodness they are

[Oliver_W]

The GOAL of having a world where the colour of peoples skin is irrelevant and everyone can be “colour blind” is ultimately a positive one, but to suggest that we’re anywhere near that in todays world and can just sort of choose to pretend that race is not an issue is … questionable… and a privileged thing to be able to do.

It sort of makes me think of wealthy people saying “money doesn’t matter to me!”

Well, class/wealth is more influential over the paths someone can follow in life, than the amount of pigment they have in their skin. Ziggy is obviously well off, and being the son of someone like Jacob Marley would pretty much set anyone up for life, and give them built-in media careers.

[Swan]

The class debate rather than colour plays a part here. How much of Glastonbury is made up of middle class white kids? Probably a huge percentage.

Also, it's all about taste, maybe a lot of black people just don't like the music. I mean, a lot of it is sh1t. Glastonbury has always been pretty overrated imo.

Lenny is probably just trying to stay in the public eye, anything 'race' right now will do that.

[Redway]

The GOAL of having a world where the colour of peoples skin is irrelevant and everyone can be “colour blind” is ultimately a positive one, but to suggest that we’re anywhere near that in todays world and can just sort of choose to pretend that race is not an issue is … questionable… and a privileged thing to be able to do.

It sort of makes me think of wealthy people saying “money doesn’t matter to me!”

That’s why I was skeptic when I saw who made this thread (LT isn’t exactly known for respecting people who aren’t skin-toned just like him, but you get roasted and called entitled every time you call him out on his nonsense). But where Glastonbury’s concerned skin colour’s neither here nor there. I’m going to guess that the average black person would rather attend a(n) Africa Oye/Notting-Hill motive and that’s why there’s more obvious black attraction in those circles but seriously, Glastonbury’s open to anyone. The reason less black people are there is probably because less black people (compared to other races) are into indie pop and all the other stuff that tends to get played there. As a game of prerogative that’s more-than fair. Either way no-one’s excluding anyone from going anywhere. It’s just not up the league-park of a sizeable demographic of people who just happen to be black and unless someone can explain how Glastonbury sets out to racially-exclude people that should really be the end of it. Not everything’s about the colour of someone’s skin.

[Redway]

If Kanye, Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Burna Boy turned up at Glastonbury you’d see more black faces (unsurprisingly). But only about 15 to 20% of black Brits (if that) like the music that Glastonbury tends to stan enough to actually pay for a ticket and camp out in the middle of Gloucestershire (or wherever it is) for the best part of a week just for the sake of that.

I don’t know why people can’t just leave it there instead of looking for token racism everywhere. It ain’t that deep at all.

[Zizu]

If Kanye, Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Burna Boy turned up at Glastonbury you’d see more black faces (unsurprisingly). But only about 15 to 20% of black Brits (if that) like the music that Glastonbury tends to stan enough to actually pay for a ticket and camp out in the middle of Gloucestershire (or wherever it is) for the best part of a week just for the sake of that.

I don’t know why people can’t just leave it there instead of looking for token racism everywhere. It ain’t that deep at all.


Burna Boy ( no idea who that is ) performed with the fabulous Yung Blud last night at Glasto ...


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220626/6063d7a2373d55ecac2b40db73908958.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Zizu]

Doja Cat is also fabulous.. shame she was taken poorly :(

She would have been a highlight I’m certain .

Maybe next time

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220626/c4d59a5b889cc59e552ecaa7eca9d0e2.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Beso]

Didnt stormzy headline it.

[Redway]

But Burna and Stormzy don’t buss-up at Glasto. as a rule. Not really. It tends to be more Manic Street Preachers and Arctic Monkeys (at least traditionally). Black British people in general may or may not like that music but either way they don’t tend to be as into indie as white people. That’s just a fact and that’s where the comparative lack of black faces there comes from. That’s really all it is, I feel. Anything else argued just comes across as stock tokenism complaints for the sake of getting a headline.

Personally I couldn’t be more anti white supremacy but at the same time I hate to see people victimise themselves and cry racism for no reason.

[Redway]

Doja Cat is also fabulous.. shame she was taken poorly :(

She would have been a highlight I’m certain .

Maybe next time

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220626/c4d59a5b889cc59e552ecaa7eca9d0e2.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Bless her, still. I hope she gets well soon enough.

[Mystic Mock]

The GOAL of having a world where the colour of peoples skin is irrelevant and everyone can be “colour blind” is ultimately a positive one, but to suggest that we’re anywhere near that in todays world and can just sort of choose to pretend that race is not an issue is … questionable… and a privileged thing to be able to do.

It sort of makes me think of wealthy people saying “money doesn’t matter to me!”

I agree it's impossible to ignore racial issues entirely.

However I do think that Lenny Henry might be overly concerned about racial issues if black people choose to not go to a venue.

[Mystic Mock]

the problem with viewing everyone the same is that it attempts to homogenise people, where their origins actually form a large part of who they are. People are all different, and thank goodness they are

I would actually agree with this.

I think that the reason why the last few years have been so dull for me is because people having their own cultural backgrounds seems to be frowned upon nowadays because we're all meant to be like the Borg out of TNG.

It's a terrible mindset that's growing imo.