A report by Simon Cable for The Times of London.

Bob Marley’s son has weighed in on comments made by the comedian Lenny Henry about lack of diversity at Glastonbury.

Ziggy Marley, a musician who was performing at the event, said when asked about Henry’s remarks that he had “stopped looking at skin colour”. Marley, 53, told TalkTV: “You know, I don’t really focus on that any more. We look at humanity. We’re all human beings.

“For everybody it’s going to be so great to get back together and listen to live music, so it’s going to be a good vibe.”

Henry, who co-founded Comic Relief, said that he felt there were some places where people still “don’t mix”. He said: “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’.

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

In a “diversity statement” on the Glastonbury website, the organisers noted that “much of the social landscape has changed” since the first festival in 1970 and said that Glastonbury had “evolved with these changes”.

It said that the “Black Lives Matter movement “has had a profound impact on us”.

Glastonbury’s first black headliner was the American singer-songwriter Curtis Mayfield in 1983. There was controversy when another American artist, Jay-Z, was chosen to headline in 2008. Some rock fans objected to a rapper headlining the festival.

Emily Eavis, co-organiser of the festival, admitted Stormzy’s performance in 2019 was “a little bit late”. The grime musician and rapper became the first black solo British headliner in the festival’s history when he performed at Worthy Farm.