‘IDOL’: I CAN READ

‘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.”