A Melbourne mother was “humiliated” when American comedian Arj Barker asked her and her seven-month-old to leave his show.
It’s understood 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 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.”
‘Never my intention’
On Monday, Barker told 7NEWS that “at the time I did what I thought I had to do to ensure the enjoyment of the audience”.
“I’m distressed, to be honest, that so many people are upset, it was never my intention,” he said of the “snap decision”.
“My goal is to do a great show and make people happy for an hour, unfortunately, not everyone left happy.
“I have no hostility towards the woman, the child or the people who are mad at me... I will try to learn from it and find if there is a more gentle solution if this ever happens again.”
The comedian said he was unaware Faranda was breastfeeding at the time of the encounter.
“I could not see the woman well enough to know a detail like that,” he added, before joking: “To suggest that I have something against babies, I was a baby for probably like three years.”
One 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.
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.
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2024-04-22 17:50:12Z
CBMijwFodHRwczovLzduZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9lbnRlcnRhaW5tZW50L2NlbGVicml0eS9jb21lZGlhbi1hcmotYmFya2VyLXNwYXJrcy1mdXJvcmUtYWZ0ZXItYXNraW5nLW1vdGhlci1hbmQtYmFieS10by1sZWF2ZS1tZWxib3VybmUtc2hvdy0tYy0xNDM5NzQxMNIBAA
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