Mel B says she can’t be called Scary Spice today because people would feel offended: ‘We’re a bit too politically correct’

Mel B has admitted she can’t be called Scary Spice today because people would find it offensive.

The 48-year-old singer, who rose to fame as part of ’90s girl band Spice Girls, adopted the nickname after one of their first interviews.

But now Mel has said the name wouldn’t be as accepted in this ‘day and age’ because the world is ‘a bit too politically correct’.

Despite this, she revealed that she still loves the nickname and thirty years after the girl group formed, they are “still the same.”

In 1994 it exploded onto the music scene and each member was given a handle: Scary, Posh (Victoria Beckham), Ginger (Geri Halliwell), Baby (Emma Bunton) and Sporty (Melanie Chisolm).

When asked how she felt about being nicknamed ‘Scary Spice’, Mel B told Elizabeth Day on television How to make podcasts failt: ‘I think we are a bit too politically correct now. I have calmed down in recent years.

“In the past, if you would interview me, I would say, ‘Show me your questions.’ I would be the protector of the group that comes in there. “Wait a second.”

“That could be seen as maybe a little too Northern, or maybe a little too spicy, or scary, so that name was given – and I love it.”

Mel B said her nickname is derived from the “obvious fact” that she is “a little scary” with “larger than life hair.”

She added, “That’s just me. But today someone would have taken offense to that. But I don’t take offense.

“Whether you’re black, white or mixed, there’s a little bit of fear in all of us.”

The girl group were all given a nickname after they were interviewed for an article in Top of the Pops magazine in July 1996.

The singer said despite 30 years having passed since they were first conceived, she thinks “we’re still the same.”

She continued, “And I just want to be clear: When those names were given to us, it was by a lazy journalist from a tiny poppy magazine and he couldn’t be bothered to remember our full names.

“So he was like, well, that one looks a little scary because she already took my notes and she has all this crazy hair and leopard print nails, so he just called us off the rack.

“We were all like, God, I kind of like my name.”

‘It’s funny because to this day Emma loves pink and if she had her way she would put her hair in ponytails.

“Mel C, you can never get her out of a tracksuit, and she always has her hair in a ponytail.

‘Victoria is very slick and elegant. Gerry, she’s gone through a little change, but she’s still that vibrant Union Jack girl underneath her, the lady of fashion.

“We’re all exactly the same, which is great when you think we started when we were 17, 18, 19 and now we’re 48, 49, 50.”

It comes after Melanie C revealed Mel B was exaggerating when she teased there would be a Spice Girls reunion.

The singer, 50 – also known as Sporty Spice – poured cold water on hopes the band would get back together.

Scary Spice Mel B teased last year that an announcement involving all five members would be coming soon.

But Mel C has now squashed the rumors, as she said The sun: ‘Mel, I love her and she has this thing, and it can get us in trouble sometimes. Of course we are always in discussions, we would like to do something different.

“I would love to be back on stage with the girls, but everyone wants to do something different or in a different way, so it’s just trying to get everyone on the same page at the same time.

‘But Melanie likes to manifest things and she thinks if she says it often enough, it will happen. I can’t confirm anything happening anytime soon, but we always talk about opportunities.”

Last May, Mel B said former bandmate Victoria would be rejoining the Spice Girls for a mystery project.

She claimed an exciting announcement was in the pipeline for the girl power group, but kept the details tight.

She did promise that “all five girls” would work together professionally for the first time in eleven years.

The last time the Spice Girls reunited was in an iconic performance at the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.

In 2019, the band set out on a UK stadium tour, but fashion designer Victoria, 49, notably opted not to participate, claiming she was too busy with her clothing brand.

Mel B revealed that the five Wannabe hitmakers would soon release a statement about their secret project and are currently working on ‘perfecting’ it.