‘AMERICAN Idol” winner Fantasia Barrino has taken umbrage with ABC, which she says gave misleading information in promoting her Sept. 30 “20/20” interview.
According to Barrino, ABC said she would reveal her illiteracy in promoting her new book, “Life Is Not a Fairy Tale.”
“In the book, I don’t say that I can’t read or write, I say I have trouble – that I’m not a strong reader,” Barrino tells Jet magazine.
“But I can write,” she says. “Of course I can write.
“When [the ’20/20′ promo] first came on it was like, ‘big secrets you have not learned about Fantasia,’ ” Barrino says. ” ‘She can’t read or write.’
“I was like, huh? That’s not in my book.”
ABC provided The Post with its promo for Barrino’s “20/20” interview. It said, simply, “Fantasia. SHE overcame the incredible!”
A press release for the “20/20” interview described Barrino as “barely able to read or write.”
In her subsequent “20/20” interview, Barrino described herself as “functionally illiterate.”
In the Jet interview, Barrino – whose debut album, “Free Yourself,” has sold nearly 2 million copies – says that, “I’m not illiterate. I just have some strong struggles and some situations that I’m not strong in.
“Every chance I get to speak out about it, I’m going to clear it up and let them know that I am not a dummy.”
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