American Idol contestant Fantasia Barrino had her few remaining fans scratching their heads recently with a bizarre Instagram message. The Season Three singer cited the legalization of marijuana and marriage equality as proof that “the world is [sic] gone mad.”
“Rise ABOVE IT ALL!!! THE WORLD IS GONE MAD. KIDS, THE GOVERNMENT, The church house… Everybody trying!!! Its a lot thats going on that the Bible speaks about we should not be doing. Weed legal in some places. Gay marriage legal BUT YET IM JUDGED!!! Im not doing Nothing for you… My Life!!!”
Jeremy Hopper at Good as You jumped on the item, prompting Barrino’s publicist to cry that that item had been taken “out of context”:
Comments made by Ms. Barrino through her Intragram account were recently taken far out of context, and the purpose of this release is to set the record straight. Ms. Barrino is not now, nor has she ever been an opponent of the LGBT community.
She has supported and performed at numerous events that are sponsored by the LGBT community. Whether it’s through a live performance or placement on social media, Ms. Barrino uses every opportunity to reach out and connect with her fans, all of her fans.
It’s understandable Barrino’s texts might be misunderstood: In her (dictated) 2005 memoir, Life is Not a Fairy Tale, the singer revealed she was functionally illiterate
Photo: Jyle Dupuis
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Brian
While I think it’s important to point out Fantasia’s stupid remarks, what irks me even more is the selective outrage of the gay community. Rihanna gets a pass despite making a joint appearance with a violence-promoting, homophobic dancehall act from Jamaica. Why does she get a pass from the gay media?
inspirations365
Wasn’t she a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race?
Yes. Yes she was.
Fantasia, we wanted to keep you around, but said you needed to Free Yourself. Now, sashay away.
Redpalacebulleaglesox
Is it possible someone got a hold of her spocial media accounts? Also, being the typo hater that I am, the word is “taken” and in another post, John Boehner is a “Representative” or “Congressman,” not a “Sen.” Full disclosurem I typo all the time and get rather annoyed with myself.
Redpalacebulleaglesox
Typo alert: that’s “social,” not “spocial” and in last sentence it should begin “Full disclosure, I typo..” Damn typos!
sfbeast
not only illiterate, but not too bright as well
alexoloughlin
It seems mad cow disease is still around! What an idiot.
hephaestion
I’ll never listen to Fantasia or Rihanna again. Freaking homophobes.
Ron
First off, she was using the gay comment as an example of her being judged harshly. She? has always loved the gay community and has performed at gay pride in weho. She said GAY MARRIAGE LEGAL AND YET I’M JUDGED. Read people, read. I didn’t take it offensively, cuz unlike some people I can connect the dots. If you were true fans, you would understand were she is coming from. You queens need to calm down, move on, and move up…
Chris-MI
The Vietnam war and protests, civil rights marches, before that World War II and the holocaust, before that World War I and chemical weapons (and legal marijuana, cocaine, and opium by Jove!), before that everything from massacres of the first Americans to black plague. And she thinks gay marriage and not-quite-altogether-legal marijuana means that the world is going mad. Sorry kid, but if you didn’t want to be judged, you shouldn’t have tried out for American Idol.
Brett
Fantasia WHO? What a lying, talentless hypocrite! She simply used gay events to promote her lame and short lived career. The “words” she spoke are ABSOLUTELY a reflection of her attitude toward the gay community. If they weren’t, THEN SHE WOULDN’T HAVE SAID THEM! Nice try, publicist person, but the cat’s out of the bag and the barn door is wide open! BUH BYE FANTASIA WHATEVER YOUR NAME IS! Your time is up and your bank account is about to run dry. Enjoy singing in the church choir and eating those free community dinners! (and from the looks of that ass, you’re not missing many of those, honey)
john32
I think I’m more irritated by the fact that the statement lacks coherent structure than the fact she thinks that gay marriage means the whole world is mad.
That being said, the intent of the statement is pretty obvious. She thinks that Gay marriage contributes to an arbitrary definition of “madness” and that somehow means her actions shouldn’t be judged. Last I checked, throwing gay people under the bus to justify ones own actions doesn’t make you an ally.
“I may have personal faults, but hey! At least I’m not getting a gay marriage or smoking pot!”
Joincny
@Ron: Ron, do you have trouble reading between the lines?
DuMaurier
@Ron: Decoding her words is kind of a challenge, but I’m inclined to agree with you. She wasn’t saying the world’s “gone mad” because of gay marriage (another breathlessly obtuse headline, thanx Queerty) If I get her point, it was that gay marriage and weed bans are falling but other forms of oppression still go on. At least I THINK that’s what she meant. (I refuse to take a firm position on anything that incoherently expressed)
1EqualityUSA
Ms. Barrino, Stay in school.
Cam
Just out of curiosity….
If she wants marriage to be judged by old fashioned standards, then she would be shunned and run out of town for being unmarried and having a child.
This must be why Jennifer Hudson has the better career.
jwrappaport
@DuMaurier: She lists gay marriage after a sentence in which she refers to things “the Bible speaks about we should not be doing.” I don’t think it’s a stretch to say she’s not exactly a fan of gay marriage.
Tracy
I hope she was high as a kite when she wrote these words, because I failed to detect any logic or coherence to her message.
Joincny
@DuMaurier: she”s saying the world has gone mad and using gay marriage as an example of this. What’s so hard to understand?
Kieran
The world has been going steadily down hill ever since they started letting negroes eat at white-only lunch counters.
1EqualityUSA
Kieran, I take it that you are trying to prove a point, but the collateral damage of your comment is too great.
Dionte
The list is so long from that book, its best to keep the focus on someone else that way your sins will be over shadowed. The isn’t a scale, this is a 1 this is a 10.
Michael
Proof the world has gone mad is that someone named after a Disney movie has face recognition for the general public.
startenout
I love that in situations such as this, they always say the comment/post/etc. was “taken out of context.” Why do they never explain just what the context was that made the statements okay? Was is opposite day? Was she sarcastically texting, but couldn’t get that across viz the written word? OR is it just a bullshit smokescreen to cover her idiocy and homophobia?
I feel ashamed that I liked her in The Color Purple. Oh, and Jennifer Hudson should have won that year, anyway. lol
DuMaurier
@jwrappaport: Yes, on reflection I focused too much on one part (her saying she was being “judged” for something she didn’t explain), and I think the biblical part kind of threw me by her lumping weed in with gay marriage, since I kind of assumed she’s a smoker and as far as I know the Bible doesn’t even mention pot.
Brian
Why do gay people assume that all gay people should love a particular act? Whatever happened to individuality in the gay community? Surely I am entitled to like whomever I wish to like and not feel that I have to like someone simply because my fellow gays like it.
I don’t particularly like Kylie or Madonna. Should I be banished from the gay community for my insolence?
Brian
Rihanna’s appearance on stage with homophobic singer Beenie Man after he was accused of inciting murderous violence towards gays in his songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKSK_Sp3n5c
Brian
Another thing that should be stated is that just because a female singer makes an appearance at a gay pride concert, it doesn’t necessarily mean she’s gay-friendly. She could be doing it just for the money.
There are tons of female singers out there who seek to get our cash. They love our cash. Just because they love our cash, it doesn’t mean they love us.
Rockery
@Brian:
You’ve tried this many times, many different ways, stop trying to make “fetch” happen. It’s not working dear.
Samuel
@Michael: It isn’t her opposition to gay marriage on moral or philosophical grounds that is troubling but how she classifies it with Marajuana which reveals her clear homophobia.
Brian
Samuel,
You are exactly right. There is a contradictory message coming from Fantasia which indicates that her agent may be trying to do some damage control. It may be the case that Fantasia believes one thing but her agent is trying to spin it another way to avoid damage to Fantasia’s career, hence the contradiction and confusion.
We in the GLBT community need to be aware that there are female singers out there who exploit us gay men in particular. We are being exploited for our cash because many of us don’t have kids to spend our money on. We are also very gullible in terms of being seduced by shout-outs to our causes, even if they are fake.
Like I said, when a female singer appears at a gay pride event, it may be the case that she sees it purely as a business transaction and not as a show of support for our rights.
Raquel Santiago
Problem is i know other members of our community who are also not a fan of gay marriage because of the politics that this has changed to. I think it depends on the persons point of view. While many want unions and marriage between same sex couples (the original meaning of gay marriage), the true meaning has changed over time to reflect political motivations. That said, going to with-hold judgement until she makes a formal statement but she should not allow her staff to use her twitter account and should always check for grammar.
Samuel
@Raquel Santiago: Exactly, Why this push for gay marraige when there is a huge divide in the gay community over the need and legitimacy of a straight institution like marraige. Do we gays give up on our queer culture just for some fictional/ imaginary equality with straight folks?
@Brian: True, sadly being from an opressed minority doesnt necessarily seem to make people liberal. The shocking amounts of homphobia in the black community are slowly coming out and needs to be addressed just as we have started to talk about the rampant racisim in the gay community….
i43neile
From the lips of a woman that destroyed one family by stealing the husband.
what a hypocrite
Redpalacebulleaglesox
@Samuel As a straight person who has all the benefits (and responsibilities) of marriage, it is a valid point you raise but unfortunately has become an issue not because LGBTTQS raised it but those who hate did. In a perfect world, the government wouldn’t be involved in marriage, marriage wouldn’t confer certain rights such as accessability to your spouse’s health care and other rights that don’t happen with domestic partnership or civil unions. Marriage has become, under US law, a “public trust” (see US Constitution, Article VI, third paragraph, second clause beginning “no religious test…” since a couple needs the permission of the government to get married in the form of a government issued license. It is not marriage per se that is the issue, it is the issue of equal rights for all. It is the issue of Sally Ride’s longtime life partner/lover/use whatever term you wish being allowed the normal rights of a straight surviving wife such as mine has if I pre-decease her. Yes, a good deal of this is about financial issues but it is also about respect for all as they are and not judging people by what they are, what Dr. King called, “…not by the color of their skin but the content of their character.”