Comedian Arj Barker faced backlash after asking a breastfeeding mother and her baby to leave his Melbourne comedy show Saturday.
The incident occurred during his show at the Athenaeum Theatre, where Barker noticed the baby making noise. Barker’s actions sparked a heated online debate.
“Forever lost a fan in me,” one fan commented on his Instagram. “He’s missing the point again. It’s not about asking the baby to leave. You actively let the room scream at a woman very aggressively to get the fuck out,” another user stated.
Some were defending the comedian. “Age limit = 15+ Conversation ends there,” one user said. “Who brings a tiny baby to a comedy show….seriously,” one more user commented.
In a statement on his Instagram, Barker explained that the baby’s sounds were disrupting the show, leading him to ask the mother to leave.
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“I then calmly informed the woman holding the baby that the baby couldn’t stay. I felt bad doing so and stated this at the time as well as several times throughout the remainder of the show. As she was leaving, I offered for her to get a refund, as a gesture of good will,” the comedian said in a statement. (RELATED: Comedian Fired Over Raunchy Stand-Up Wins Case After Arbitrator Declares Jokes ‘Insightful’ And ‘Funny’)
“I want to be clear that this was a very tough call which I made on behalf of the other 700 or so audience members who deserved to see the show they had paid for, uninterrupted.”
The mother, Trish Faranda, expressed her humiliation over the incident in an interview with Australian radio station, 3AW. “I felt humiliated,” Faranda said. “He was intimidating and he was standing right in front of me.”