American Idol 6: Antonella Barba Scandal Update – Idol Crew Speaks Out While Antonella Sings Poorly

After it became obvious that Antonella Barba would stay on American Idol 6, where she performed last night, some of the show’s principal players started talking about the scandal that has turned Google into a search-for-photos-of-Antonella engine.

The night before she performed “Because You Love Me” in the hopes that viewers would do just that, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe told Extra that he would not be kicking Antonella off and, “her fate is in the voters’ hands.” He similarly told Inside Edition, “It won’t affect anything, Antonella is about her looks and her talent and that’s the only thing that will affect her journey on American Idol.” Interesting how he listed her looks first and her talent second, as that’s what many viewers think as well.

At a Playboy Mansion party for a couple E! reality shows, including one produced by Ryan Seacrest, Idol judge Simon Cowell told People magazine, “I think it's disgraceful that so-called friends would sell these pictures. It's private property. I really, really have a problem with that – big problem."

Seacrest was the most vocal in offering his opinions, telling CBS’s Showbuzz, “I do feel like it's a little disgusting — I think the right word is 'tacky' — for someone to do that. These things, they were taken at a time that [was] a private moment. It was something between her and somebody close to her. It was meant for them and not for us. And it's someone trying to take advantage of someone else, and this contestant is trying to make it in a mainstream show and do her thing."

Seacrest must have been talking about the worst of the photos when mentioning the “private moment,” because the others of her drunk, topless, and/or posing in seductive positions were obviously not “private moments” – some of them occurred on a beach with several friends, for example. The fact that Seacrest referenced the “private moment” photos does bring up the question of whether the Idol powers that be believe those photos to be real. As discussed in my update of a couple days ago, questions still linger about the veracity of the worst photos.

Simon talked more about Antonella, saying the photos should “not affect her standing on the show, and if the public wants to keep her in, they’ll keep her in.”

I actually think that’s incorrect. If anything, I believe all the attention will help her standing on the show – at least for a couple weeks. She may make it to the finals on this wave of sympathy and/or teenage-boys-in-lust votes.

Fellow judge Randy Jackson pointed out, “Nobody’s clean in the entertainment business. There are definitely some moral things that go on with this show.” I’m not entirely sure what he meant with the second sentence, but the first is likely true. And it goes well with Simon’s follow-up statement to the above, noting, “These people haven't done anything illegal; that's their private life."

While some people are still comparing this to the Frenchie Davis situation, and have already used the above statements to suggest a change in attitude between her situation and Antonella’s, the fact remains that there are definite differences. Frenchie was paid to pose topless for explicit photos that she knew would be on a website. As Simon and Ryan noted, Antonella’s pictures were apparently never meant to be shared with the rest of the world.

As mentioned earlier, I suspect this whole situation will actually help Antonella progress in the American Idol competition. As noted in Jenn Brasler’s RealityNewsOnline recap, the on-site judges didn’t exactly feel she as great either. Randy echoed Nigel Lythgoe’s statement mentioned earlier in this article, by noting her good looks before talking about her singing – which he said was off-key. Paula felt the vocals were better than last week, which isn’t saying much, but Simon didn’t even agree with that!

As discussed in the Foxes On idol We’ll Be the Judge of That! column, none of our writers were exactly impressed with her either. Indeed, based on talent, they all thought she should be sent home (though realized it probably wouldn’t happen). And her crack to the judges about Jennifer Hudson really did not help her standing.

So we will likely be enduring at least a couple more weeks of Antonella’s singing and ongoing discussion about her photos (and photos that might be of her). As always, Foxes On Idol will keep you posted about ongoing developments.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent articles on Foxes On Idol:

David Bloomberg is the Editor of Foxes On Idol, and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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