Fantasia Barrino's Sex Tape Allegations Could Promote Her Album but Hurt Her Long Term Career

Could the allegation that Fantasia Barrino made a sex tape with a married man actually help her career and sales of her upcoming album Back to Me?

News broke today that Barrino, who won American Idol in 2004 and who has been nominated many times since for Grammy Awards, is being accused of having an affair with a married man; a man with whom she made a sex tape, at least according to his estranged wife.

Though she has an interesting life story (she is, for example, unable to read and write), Barrino has enjoyed a clean reputation and seemingly lived a wholesome lifestyle as no major scandals or personal stories have surfaced. The news that she is accused of not only having an affair with a married man, but actually making a sex tape with him is surely shocking in many ways to her fans.

That said, as the old saying goes, there is no such thing as bad publicity and as Fantasia Barrino prepares to promote this album, she will surely get some additional publicity that she won't have to work for; though it is questionable if it is truly the kind of exposure and publicity that she wants, even if it does help her album sales.

Barrino is scheduled to release Back to Me on August 24. As of now, there are no announced concert appearances scheduled to help promote her album. Barrino does have a reality show on VH1 called Fantasia For Real. Its second season is scheduled to kick off on September 19; VH1's website says that a good portion of the show will focus on her efforts to promote her album.

With the allegation of a sex tape coming out today, the name Fantasia Barrino will undoubtedly be I the news much more than it would otherwise had been. As far as selling albums goes, the sex tape may actually help. As far as Barrino's long term viability and credibility as an artist, the future could be bit less clear. Sometimes scandals such as sex tapes can serve as career steroids of sorts in that they provide a short term and outsized boost, but longer term can do damage if the ultimate perception of the celebrity or artist is negatively impacted.

In a time when an aspiring actress such as Montana Fishburne has said that she is releasing a sex tape for the purpose of promoting her career, it is easy to think that perhaps a sex tape will do nothing but help. Long term, however, if Fantasia Barrino did in fact make a sex tape with a married man, the results may not be all positive.

Source: Staff, "Fantasia Barrino accused of adultery, sex tape in N.C. divorce filing", latimesblog.com