American Idol: Sex Scandal Rocks American Idol
Report and Commentary by Ron Lemon
February 25, 2007
It started early last week when revealing photos or Antonella Barba showed up on line. Although they weren't safe for the work place they were pretty tame. They included topless photos with her hands covering her breasts and photos of her kissing another girl. The powers at American Idol had "no comment".
Then Friday new photos began showing up all over the net. And these are much more explicit. They show her nude. They show her semi-nude in the fountain of a Washington D.C. War Memorial. They show her giving oral sex to an, at this time, unknown male.
And it's spread beyond just the net. Major newspaper and magazines across the country are now carrying the story. I have yet to see it on CNN or any other major television news program, but it can't be long.
There are a couple of websites that have sprung up overnight devoted to the pictures. Let me warn you again, these are not work safe, nor child safe. I'm not going to give you the links to them. The girl has suffered enough embarrassment already.
Imagine how you would feel if photos of your most private moments were now available for your family and friends to view.
One report I have seen says that the pics surfaced after her ex-boyfriend did a mass emailing of them. This allegedly happened after she broke up with him just before heading to Hollywood. Again I feel sorry for her if this is the case.
However, I have to wonder why anyone who is looking for a career in show business would ever allow themselves to be photographed in that manner. You have to know that the chances of the images ending up in the public domain are pretty good. And I know that "celebrities" sometimes engineer this situation on purpose to give their lagging careers a boost. But you have to have a career to boost it first. I don't think that is the case here.
Personally I don't care about the pictures except for those taken at the War Memorial. To me this is exceptionally disrespectful of those who gave their lives in service to their country. I think she owes an apology for that. And I think who ever released the photos owes an apology to Antonella.
So what will happen? Will she be kicked off the show? Frenchie Davis was and her photos were very tame by comparison.
Fox publicist Alex Gillespie told The Associated Press on Friday that there would be no comment on the photos or whether or not Antonella would be removed from the competition.
American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe told Entertainment Weekly "We have really good background checks on everybody, and we deal with that every season," and "It's sad, isn't it, that your best friends are the ones that come forward with information that will go to Smoking Gun or put your photographs on the web?"
He's right about the sadness of it all. Not so right about the quality of their background checks.
I don't think they will bother to remove her. The truth is she is just not that good. America will vote her off and I would bet on sooner rather than later.
Ron Lemon is the very opinionated, but not-always-right, editor of Reality TV Calendar. He is a United States Air Force veteran, a Pennsylvania Army National Guard veteran and retired from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. He lives on the southern shore of Canada with his wife and business partner Christine and their spoiled dog, Stash. He, Ron - not the dog, does this because he enjoys it, he hates alarm clocks, and it is better than getting up and going to work everyday. Until such time as he wins the lottery he can be reached at: Editor@RealityTVCalendar.com.
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