Antonella Barba

Antonella Barba fully-clothed

The Internet strikes again.

The immediacy and the speed with which information spreads really is astounding.

The latest victim of the new media is Antonella Barba, a contestant on American Idol.

From her page on the Idol website:

Q: What other talents do you have?

Barba: Violin, piano

Q: Most embarrassing moments?

Barba: Saying the wrong things before I think

I think Barba might need to revise those answers.

LOS ANGELES -- The Internet was abuzz Friday over a series of racy photos linked to an "American Idol" contestant. The pictures, posted on several Web sites, included one with four women posing topless at the beach, their hands covering their breasts, and others with a woman engaged in a sex act.

The anonymous postings alleged that Antonella Barba, 20, of Point Pleasant, N.J., was depicted in the photos and didn't indicate how they were obtained.

Alex Gillespie, a Fox publicist in New York for the top-rated show, said the network would have no comment on the incident or whether it might affect Barba's participation in the contest.

Gillespie said the network is not making any of the contestants available to speak to the media.

...Nigel Lythgoe, an "American Idol" producer, was quoted on Entertainment Weekly's Web site on Friday as saying he was unaware of the photographs.

"We have really good background checks on everybody, and we deal with that every season," he told EW.com. "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?"

Interested in seeing the photos?

Here's more photos alleged to be Barba.


It is sad that her "best friends" were willing to post these compromising photos of Barba on the Internet.

I wouldn't call them friends.

However, much sadder than the betrayal by these so-called friends is the fact that Barba engaged in the behavior depicted in the photos.

Quite literally, she blew it.

American Idol has a precedent to follow. Other contestants have been forced off the show for behavior that its producers deemed inappropriate.

I don't see how Barba can be allowed to remain if it's determined that the most sexually graphic photos are actually of her. It would be inconsistent with the treatment that other contestants received.

I suppose Barba could spend a day or two in "poor judgment" rehab. She could blame an addiction. Maybe Donald Trump could intervene and make things all better.

But in the final analysis, the show must uphold the standards it has set.

Actually, I don't see Antonella Barba as a victim of the Internet or disloyal "friends."

She made poor choices and those choices have consequences.
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Update:

What are the consequences for Barba? Other than being publicly humiliated and getting an incredible amount of attention, NONE.

If the ones responsible for releasing the photos hoped to destroy her chances to remain on the show, they made a gross miscalculation.

American Idol producers are going to support her. Why? Ratings. Money.

Barba's popularity has skyrocketed. She has a new audience of admirers.

As long as she stays on the show, American Idol will be attracting a new demographic -- the cramped hand demo. Yes, the producers have decided to reap the benefits of the sleazy photos.

In my opinion, it's creepy and reflects poorly on the show.

I wonder how the show's producers would have reacted if sexually explicit photos of a male contestant surfaced. Would they be as forgiving in that case?

I'm not sure what the lesson here really is.

I guess if you want to be famous, Barba is a role model.
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I'm surprised it took this long for someone to bring up the issue of race when comparing how American Idol treated Frenchie Davis versus how Antonella Barba has been given a pass.

LOS ANGELES -- Frenchie Davis, dumped by "American Idol" in 2003 for lingerie shots posted on a Web site, moved on to Broadway success and thought she had buried a humiliating chapter of her young life.

That changed in the last few days after contestant Antonella Barba was allowed to stay on the top-rated Fox series despite the emergence of racy online photos that purport to be of Barba, but with no verification.

The first big controversy of the show's sixth season swelled Tuesday when fans and a civil-rights activist rallied to Davis' side, saying she was the victim of unfair and potentially biased treatment. Davis is black; Barba is white.

"We object to having one rule for black contestants and a different rule for white contestants who exhibit the same behavior," said Najee Ali, community activist and founder of Project Islamic H.O.P.E.

Davis said she is bewildered over what's happened with Barba, 20, of Point Pleasant, N.J.

"I don't necessarily think that (it's racism), but I can certainly look at this and understand why people would draw that conclusion," Davis said Tuesday from New York, hours before going on stage in the musical "Rent."

"I'm not bashing `Idol' or Antonella. She's a beautiful girl and she's young. I think it's great that she didn't have to go through what I went through," said Davis, 27, who suggested that the show's producers might have learned from how they treated her.

Davis would welcome a public apology from them as "a great start." But she said she is owed more for "the manner in which I was humiliated and the manner in which Antonella was defended and protected by the same people who humiliated me."

"Now they need to come to the table and see what we can do to make up" for her treatment, Davis said. She declined to say if she would seek a financial settlement or a record contract or other deal.

Belinda Foster, Davis' manager, took part in a small protest Tuesday with Ali outside the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles where "American Idol" tapes. She said there are stark differences in the treatment of the two contestants.

..."`American Idol' has first and foremost proclaimed it is a family show. ... No matter who made the photos public, it still speaks to her moral character and integrity, and certainly her silence speaks for itself," he said.

A fan group lead by Chris Tian, a singer-songwriter in Portsmouth, N.H., is calling on Fox to give Davis another shot at competing on "Idol."

Where's Jesse Jackson?