A breastfeeding Melbourne mother was “humiliated” when American comedian Arj Barker asked her and her seven-month-old baby to leave his show.
His decision, while performing at the Melbourne Comedy Festival on Saturday night, prompted others in the audience to walk out of the Athenaeum Theatre.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Arj Barker divides after asked breastfeeding mother and baby to leave show.
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Trish Faranda said she initially thought it was a joke when Barker first approached her and her baby, Clara.
“She did a little bit of babbling and he just stopped and said, ‘Is there a baby here?’ and he did a thing about babies,” she told 7NEWS.
“Then he said, ‘I speak fluent baby and it said take me outside’.”
Faranda said the crowd was laughing along, so she was unsure whether Barker was being serious.
“After that, I was a little bit anxious about her making any sound,” she said.
“She had a little whinge and I popped her on the breast to feed her and she was quiet.”
Faranda was sitting four rows from the front when Barker asked her to leave, telling her she was interrupting his rhythm and it was not fair to the crowd.
“Everyone was still laughing. He’s a comedian, I didn’t know if he was being serious,” she said.
The mother asked Barker if he wanted her to leave, to which he said yes, “and then he turned to the crowd and was trying to get their support to kick us out”.
Faranda said the situation was “intimidating and humiliating”.
“I didn’t want to ruin anyone’s night, it was never my intention to go and disrupt people or create a scene,” she said.
“(Clara) wasn’t yelling … I could equate it to if someone had a cough during the show.
“If he had just stopped the show, moved the microphone away and said to me, ‘Hey, actually I’m finding it a bit distracting. Do you mind leaving?’, I wouldn’t have minded.”
The new mother’s relative, Danielle, took to X to call out Barker on the decision.
“(Barker) demanded my seven-month-old cousin — who relies on her mum for milk (life) — my mother, and my aunty’s friend (also a mum) to leave his show, claiming the (the baby) was ‘ruining his train of thought’,” the tweet said.
“A woman has purchased a ticket for a night out with her sister and friend to laugh and enjoy herself, and you badger her and encourage her to leave and get a refund.
“With all of the hatred and violence women are faced with, among the countless atrocities happening within the world today, I ask you to simply take a long, hard look at yourself.”
Another witness said the moment was “unbelievably awkward”.
“The baby was just being a baby, it wasn’t doing anything above and beyond,” David told 3AW Breakfast.
“(Barker) stopped the show and said: ‘Can you take this baby outside?’
“The crowd wasn’t sure whether he was serious — but he was dead serious. It was unbelievably awkward.”
He reported that eight women and a “fair few others” left after the moment.
Barker has since released a statement defending his position.
“The show is strictly age 15 plus, as clearly stated on the ticket site. She had an infant with her. The baby was disrupting my performance,” he told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“On behalf of the other 700 people who paid to see the gig, I politely told her the baby couldn’t stay.
“She thought I was kidding, which made the exchange a bit awkward.
“I felt bad about the whole situation and stated this on the night, more than once. I offered her a refund.
“Theatre staff should not have seated a baby in my audience in the first place.”
The comedian said he was unaware Faranda was breastfeeding at the time of the encounter.
Sparking furore
The moment has sparked a debate online, with users divided on who was in the wrong.
“GOOD — It was also ruining the show for everyone else who paid to enjoy the show,” one X user said in support of Barker.
“100 per cent with Arj Barker in this… Keep babies at home. They don’t belong at the theatre,” a second said.
“Don’t know what Arj Barker actually said nor how he said it, but imagine being so selfish to choose to take a baby to a comic or any theatre show and not leave if it starts crying,” a third said.
Meanwhile, others shamed Barker for asking the mother and baby to leave.
“Asking a breastfeeding mum to leave your show?! Really mate?!” one said.
“Disgusting behaviour asking a breastfeeding mother to leave your show. If it distracted you that much YOU’RE the one with the problem,” wrote a second.
