Mel B says Spice Girls ‘wouldn’t have happened’ without support from the gay community

Longtime LGBTQ+ ally Mel B has shared her eternal gratitude to the gay community for supporting the Spice Girls from the “very, very start”.

Since skyrocketing to the top of the charts in the 1990s, the Spice Girls have firmly cemented themselves in pop culture history.

But alongside becoming the bestselling girl group of all time, they’ve also consistently shown up for the LGBTQ+ community, with Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) coming out swinging for trans rights and Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) sharing the heartwarming interactions she’s had with gay fans.

Following her stint as a guest judge on season four of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK last year, Mel B – aka Scary Spice – is also continuing to show up for the queer community.

This month, Mel B steps up as a judge for the second season of the drag singing competition Queen of the Universe alongside Michelle Visage, Trixie Mattel and Vanessa Williams and host Graham Norton.

The series, which lands on Paramount+ on Saturday (3 June), has prompted the 48-year-old to reflect on her decades-long debt to the gay community.

“I think it’s been everything and they’ve been there for us from the very, very start,” she told Metro. “Without them, it wouldn’t have really happened, I don’t think.”

“I definitely think we’ve been influenced,” she continued. “Yeah, I mean, our hair and makeup, our platforms, our girl power, our kind of influence on ourselves and other women. Yeah, definitely.

“And you can’t get better than the gays and the drag scene embracing you, and we’ve been embraced by both since the start of our career.”

Mel B echoes the words of her fellow Spice Girl Mel C, who previously said that the Spice Girls ‘Girl Power’ brand was just as much about ‘Gay Power’ when she accepted an honorary award at the 2022 Attitude Awards.

“The Spice Girls were about embracing individuality,” the singer-songwriter said. “Everybody was invited into our gang. It wasn’t just Girl Power, it was Gay Power.”

Mel B is still on a journey of discovery when it comes to the drag community, telling Metro that she didn’t realise “drag was so full on”.

“I mean, what they have to go through and what they put their body through. From the corsets, to this and that and their hair and makeup, it’s like putting on a whole different mask that stays flawless for hours,” she said.

“I mean I know drag but I didn’t actually know how much time, effort and energy goes into that one look which they had to recreate each week.”

At a time when drag is under attack perhaps more than ever before, Mel B is thrilled to be part of the “first wave” of drag-centric shows dominating TV.

“It is one of those things where you just wish it would have been more global and more accessible a lot, lot earlier, like decades ago, but there’s no time like the present,” she added.

“So I’m just glad that I’m part of this first wave.”

Queen of the Universe will be available to stream weekly from Saturday 3 June on Paramount+ in the UK.