Entertainment
Mel B ‘shocked’ by racism in America while filming BBC documentary: ‘It changed my outlook’-Sabrina Barr-Entertainment – Metro
‘I thought that there wasn’t as much racism as there when my mum had me,’ she said.
‘I thought that there wasn’t as much racism as there when my mum had me,’ she said (Picture: Noel Vasquez/Getty Images)
Mel B has admitted how ‘shocked’ she felt travelling to America and encountering racism there in today’s day and age, emphasising that it’s ‘still there’.
For her latest project, the Spice Girl known around the world as Scary Spice teamed up with comedic performers Ruby Wax and Emily Atack for a wild, unpredictable and daring adventure, all the while being filmed for a BBC documentary.
The programme, titled Trailblazers: A Rocky Mountain Road Trip, involved the trio following in the footsteps of a Victorian explorer called Isabella Bird, who travelled on her own for hundreds of miles across the American Wild West.
While speaking to Metro.co.uk and other media about their joint journey, Mel said that her personal experience changed her ‘outlook in a few ways’.
The singer admitted she felt ‘shocked’ by the minority of people of colour in Colorado, stating: ‘So even though Colorado is massive, the whole world is massive, but when it actually comes down to it where people of colour, whether it be mixed or brown or some kind of mix of ethnicity, they kind of have it even harder, people of colour.’
The 47-year-old explained that she, Ruby, 69, and Emily, 32, met two sisters who were champions in lasso, who had to ‘fight harder for their position’ being women of colour.
‘They went to an all-white school and you think, yeah, there are places in rural outbacks that are predominantly white. But for me, I thought that there wasn’t as much racism as there was say when my mum had me 47 years ago, but it’s still there,’ she said.
‘It kind of changed my outlook. Throughout the whole show, I was saying, “Is there anybody brown or mixed or Black in this town? Is there anybody?” I always find myself looking.’
Mel added how ‘brilliant’ she found learning the sisters’ story of their achievements with their talents.
Emily, Ruby and Mel make for a dynamic trio on the programme (Picture: BBC/Studio Ramsay/Jill Worsley)
The TV personalities met several new people as they followed in Isabella’s footsteps (Picture: BBC/Studio Ramsay/Jill Worsley)
The Spice Girl speculated that when Isabella set out on her travels, she may not have ‘stumbled across many people of colour’, based on the journey Mel, Ruby and Emily went on themselves.
‘We had to seek them out,’ Mel added. ‘But who knows. That’s the one thing that we didn’t really ask, that I didn’t ask.’
For Trailblazers: A Rocky Mountain Road Trip – a three-episode series – Mel, Ruby and Emily used Isabella’s 1873 book A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains as the basis for their own excursions.
Isabella – who left Yorkshire and headed for the rugged landscape of America after being prescribed mountain air for malaise – is one of Ruby’s biggest heroines.
Trailblazers: A Rocky Mountain Road Trip premieres on Monday at 9pm on BBC Two.
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