Lenny Henry has said that he was often left out at teenage discos, with some girls choosing to not dance with him because he was “a black guy”.
The comedian and actor told Louis Theroux’s Grounded podcast that his attempts to slow dance with girls while growing up in the West Midlands were regularly rebuffed.
“If you wanted to meet members of the opposite sex you’ve got to go to a place where they might be and where they might be was St Thomas’ disco next to the church,” he remembered.
“You would spend nearly all evening ignoring them and then in the last five minutes, there would be this rush to the dance floor to try and slow dance with a girl.”
He continued: “I would ask anyone to dance. I didn’t want to be left out and my friends would be dancing with girls ... Some girls wouldn’t dance with me because I was a black guy.”
Asked by Theroux how he knew that his race was behind the girls’ decision, Henry replied: “They would say.”
Also in the podcast, Henry said that he was pressured to keep secret his interest in comedy as a young man.
“There was no wise-cracking from a child in our house because that was seen as being cheeky and overstepping the mark,” he explained. “If you cracked wise jokes in earshot of your parents, you would get a slap round the head.”
Grounded with Louis Theroux is available on BBC Sounds every Monday and also broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesdays at 8pm.
