THE producers of "American Idol" are angry about suggestions in the upcoming Fantasia Barrino movie on Lifetime that they pushed her to quit because she was an unwed mother."Certainly, under no circumstances was she ever approached to be talked out of taking part in [the show]," "Idol" executive producer Ken Warwick told The Post. "We knew she had a baby right from Day One, and she was always strongly tipped to win the competition because she was so good. "I can absolutely refute that nothing was done, or even remotely suggested to her that she shouldn’t take part in the competition," he said."It’s a complete fabrication."The Post reported on Friday that the biographical movie – called "Fantasia: Life is Not a Fairy Tale" and set to air in mid-August – about her unlikely rise to the top of the pop music world in 2004, hints that the producers of the show subtly pres sured her to quit.In the film’s opening scene, a surprised Fantasia – who plays herself in the movie – is stopped coming off stage from the show’s weekly telecast and told a producer wants to see her in her dressing room.The "Idol" producer asks if she’s read the Internet chatter about her – that she was an unwed teenage mother and a high-school dropout and that she was not a role model as the next Idol. The producer then suggests no one would blame the then-19-year-old if she decided to quit the show."It’s absolutely and totally untrue," Warwick says. "I’m the executive producer, Nigel [Lythgoe] is the other executive producer and nobody – to my knowledge – would have said anything like that to her."In the film, the executive is not identified other than by a first name, Ed. (No producer with that first name is listed in the show’s credits.)The scene serves as a set-up for the rest of the film – a flashback to her roughshod upbringing in small-town North Carolina and the road to the "Idol" finals.The dressing-room conference comes back near the end of the movie – where again she is offered the option to get off the show. Of course, she turns it down and goes on to win the 2004 edition of the show.Fantasia’s representatives did not make her available for an interview over the weekend.
NY Post
It is not like she read the script.
