Mar 6, 2007 5:13 pm US/Eastern
Racial Rally Called Over 'Idol' Star's Racy Photos
BY STEVE FINK
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Former "American Idol" contestant Frenchie Davis was kicked off the show after allegedly racy photographs of her surfaced on the Internet.
CBS
It's been a rocky road for Point Pleasant, N.J. native Antonella Barba, a finalist on Fox's popularity contest
American Idol, ever since she sang her way to Hollywood.
On camera, Barba has been berated by the judges for her singing, while off-camera she's turned into an amateur Paris Hilton, with questionable pictures of her parading around in a see-through top at a World War II memorial fountain surfacing on the Internet.
While
Idol fans have somehow managed to keep Barba on the show despite her so-so singing, Civil Rights activists are now trying to get her kicked off forcefully. Activist Najee Ali, who leads the group "Project Islamic H.O.P.E.," and other supporters are gathering to protest the show's decision to keep Barba on despite the racy photos, claiming the show is guilty of a racial "double-standard" after booting off former contestant Frenchie Davis in the show's second season.
Davis, who is black, was disqualified from the show after topless pictures of her apparently in a compromising position also appeared on the Internet, according to several tabloid Web sites. Barba, who is white, has not been disqualified.
A news release was consequently issued saying that Ali, along with "celebrities, community leaders and Chris Tian & Friends for Frenchie Davis will confront 'American Idol' this Tuesday." The rally was scheduled to take place Tuesday morning outside the Kodak Theater -- where
Idol is taped -- on Hollywood Boulevard.
The "celebrity" rally will focus on the circumstances surrounding Davis' ousting, in which Davis said the questionable photos were "never seen by the 'Idol' powers that be, nor the public," according to the release.
The release said Barba's photos are of a pornographic nature whereas Davis only posed in lingerie. Pornographic photographs of a woman who looked similar to Barba surfaced at the same time as the photographs of her splashing about in the fountain, but most outlets have dismissed the pictures as someone else, not Barba.
Ali and the rally participants are asking that Davis be brought back onto the show. An e-mail has even been created for supporters, but it doesn't appear as if the show's producers will budge in their positions.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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