Comedian Arj Barker is facing backlash after allegedly kicking out a breastfeeding mother and her newborn baby from his show.
According to The Guardian, a mother named Tish Faranda and her baby were at the Athenaeum Theater watching the 49-year-old's The Mind Field show, which is part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Faranda spoke about the incident with Tom Elliott for 3AW Melbourne and revealed that she attended the event with a group of friends, and they sat toward the end of the row so she could make a “quick exit” if her baby made a lot of noise.
She then said that during the show, her infant “gurgled a little bit, equivalent to someone coughing” and claimed that Barker joked about the noises, saying: “I speak baby and she said ‘take me outside’”.
The mother alleged that later in the show, her baby made more noise, which she described as “she gurgled a little bit, she whinged, nothing super loud” and she said the comic approached her for a second time due to the disturbance.
“I was actually breastfeeding when he came and stood in front of me and he was basically telling me to leave," she said. “People were laughing and I don’t think he was joking. So I said to him, do you actually want me to leave? And he said, “Yes I do.”
Faranda said she was “humiliated” and packed up and left, sharing: “I was not comfortable to stay … people were out to have a good night, and that’s fine if he was not coping with [the baby’s noises], I don’t want to impact other people.”
The attendee added that 10 or 12 other people – all women who were mothers or grandmothers, as well as one “lovely gentleman” - all walked out after she was reportedly kicked out.
The incident has sparked outrage and has led to a furious debate on social media.
Australian politician Ellen Sandell said: “I am livid at hearing this... It’s hard enough for new mums to participate in society with all the barriers put in front of them – to be humiliated like this, for just trying to enjoy the comedy festival, is awful.”
An angry user penned on X (formerly Twitter): "Men do f***ing better. This chick pushed a new life out of her body, did some self-care to come to the show. and you treat her like this."
Meanwhile, Steven Adlard, who was in attendance at the show, said the noises were more disruptive than the mom had suggested.
“It wasn’t a little bit of gurgling, it was crying. I was on the second level up and I could hear it,” he said, per The Guardian. “Arj got distracted, he was trying to tell a joke, he quite politely stopped and said ‘Would you mind? Could you please leave?’"
"She just sat there, and the baby settled down, and a few minutes later it started again," they continued. “He was trying to perform and he couldn’t, he wasn’t rude to her, he just said ‘All these other people are here to hear the performance, and they can’t,'”
The man said the experience was uncomfortable for everyone, concluding: “Really I thought it was quite an upsetting thing for all people involved. He was uncomfortable; she was, I’m sure, upset."
Barker has issued a statement addressing the backlash and criticized theater staff for allowing the baby into the show.
“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 said. “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,” he added.
In addition to this, the comedian clarified on Instagram that his decision to ask Faranda to leave had nothing to do with her breastfeeding her baby.
"To suggest this had anything to do with my actions is blatantly false as I couldn't see well enough to know if she was or wasn't," he said. “For the record, I support public breastfeeding, as it’s perfectly natural."
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