Drag Race UK’s Just May on Geri Halliwell’s politics: ‘You can love someone and not share beliefs’
Just May is the first queen to sashay away. (BBC/World of Wonder/Guy Levy)
Just May, the first queen to sashay away in RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season four, has spoken about the questionable politics of her icon, Geri Halliwell.
The first episode of the fourth season of Drag Race UK saw Just May lip-sync for her life against Dakota Schiffer before crashing out of the competition.
At the end of the episode she didn’t seem to upset at being the first to go, saying: “It feels iconic to be the first queen to leave Drag Race UK Series four because just like Geri Halliwell, I made an early exit.”
Just May has made her name as a Geri Halliwell impersonator but reflecting on her relationship with the pop icon, things aren’t all peachy.
Aside from her Spice Girls heyday, Halliwell is more recently known for cosying up to Liz Truss and Nadine Dorries from the Conservative Party in public, which has led to backlash and disappointment from some queer fans.
“I don’t have the same political beliefs as she does but that doesn’t take anything away from what I hold dear about her,” Just May tells PinkNews and other media.
“For me, she embodied what I could be as the outcast ginger kid, and that’s never left me.
“I do think that you can still love someone and not have the same belief system – like I think Liz Truss is a big old t**t and Boris is a d**khead.”
Do we think @GeriHalliwell has noticed me yet? pic.twitter.com/kLGirvVlti— Just May (@justmaydoes) September 9, 2022
She says that when the image of Geri Halliwell hugging Nadine Dorries was shared she thought: “Great, I can’t wait for the s**tstorm that’s gonna fly into my Twitter inbox.”
Unfortunately Just May left the show before she was able to meet Geri’s former Spice Girl colleague Mel B and Allison Hammond (both of whom are judges on the fourth season). Just May has admired Hammond since she first broke a picnic bench on the 2002 series of Big Brother.
Reflecting on her short, but sweet, time on the series, Just May had a chaotic interaction with the iconic Dame Joanna Lumley, who guest judged the first episode.
“I’m not gonna lie she looks even more sensational in real life. She told me I need to wear less makeup,” Just May says.
“I was like, ‘I don’t think that you realise that underneath this is a 32-year-old man who didn’t get Botox before he came on this show.”
Meanwhile when it came to who Just May grew close to and is rooting for on the show, the answer was obvious to her.
“I’ve known Jonbers Blonde and Le Fil for years, we’ve toured the country and they’re my closest friends. Since the show I’ve grown closest to Cheddar [Gorgeous], Pixie [Polite] and Copper Topp,” she says.
Just May would love to see Cheddar, Jonbers or Le Fil to win as “they are all great performers and all got such different takes on drag”.
