Fantasia Barrino Continued...

     I apologize for the hiatus on my blog. As you may know, I am a college student and this week I served as a volunteer on campus to help welcome in the new freshman. So occasionally, I will be too overwhelmed with school and work responsibilities to update. But I'll try to get to it as much as I can.

     The reason I am doing this post is because my very first post was a comparison on how Fantasia Barrino and Alicia Keys, both allegedly in affairs with married men, were each treated by the media. In the post, based on an article I read on theroot.com, I mentioned how their skin color could possibly be one of the reasons Fantasia was treated much more harshly than Alicia. This article was a real debate-starter and got the wheels turning in my mind as well.

     Fantasia has just recently revealed in an interview with Vibe magazine that she believes the reason she was treated differently was because of her skin tone and ethnic features. In the interview, she takes it a step further, saying she believes her skin tone, ethnic features, and short hair also got her excluded from red carpet coverage spreads in popular magazines.

     In my opinion, Fantasia took something that the black media was saying in her defense and ran with it as far as she could. Now, while I do believe her skin tone played a part, it is very unlikely that was the whole reason she was treated differently from the Alicia Keys and Angelina Jolies. Fantasia claims that it was difficult being on American Idol, where everyone was "barbied out," as she she says.

     But she forgets to mention that she won the competition. Despite being a teen single mother, dark-skinned, and having a full nose and full lips, the American audience still voted her the winner. With all the pressure and embarrassment following her suicide attempt, I think Fantasia is now trying to play the victim card. And, in my opinion, all this press and all these interviews are putting her back in the spotlight conveniently close to the release of her album.

     Going back to American Idol, she is held to different standards than celebrities not affiliated with that name. And not only that, but her scandal, unlike the others, involved the possible existence of a sex tape. People want to know that the person they rooted for and voted for is not a sex-tape-making, shameless homewrecker. Alicia Keys got into this business on her own accord, and Angelina Jolie already had a reputation as a rebel. The American public feel like Fantasia was made into a star only with their support.

     Fantasia can use the race card as much as she wants, but there are many other factors involved that she overlooked in her haste to defend herself. And if there's one thing that annoys me, it's when people don't own up and try to play the victim instead. What do you think about the situation?