American comedian Arj Barker has doubled down on his decision to tell a breastfeeding mother to leave his show after her baby made some gurgling noises.
The woman, Trish Faranda, said she felt “humiliated” when she realised he was asking her and her baby to leave the comedy show in Melbourne on Saturday night.
Speaking to 3AW radio, Faranda said she was a long-time fan of Barker, and was out for the night trying to enjoy something she used to do before having children.
Describing what happened, Faranda said her baby daughter “gurgled a bit” and that “it was probably the equivalent to if someone was coughing”.
She said she had specifically bought tickets towards the front of the theatre and close to the side so she could make a quick exit had her daughter started crying or making loud noises.
“I was actually breastfeeding while he came and stood in front of me and then he was basically telling me to leave,” she said.
Faranda said she thought he may have been joking at first, because some people in the audience were laughing, but it quickly became clear he wanted her to go.
“If he wasn’t coping with it, I don’t want to impact other people,” she said, describing that she felt “humiliated” by the situation.
“I’ve been to lots of his shows before I had children. You kind of lose yourself a little bit when you have kids and I was just trying to get back to enjoying something that I enjoyed before kids.”
Several other people, mostly women, walked out of the show with Faranda in a show of solidarity.
Barker was also interviewed by 3AW radio today, where he was asked for his perspective on the incident. He called it “really awkward” but he would make the same decision again. He noted the theatre had a 15+ age rule for the audience.
“I made the decision not for myself, but for the audience,” he said, noting that he wasn’t able to see that the woman was breastfeeding due to the lighting in the theatre.
“The baby wasn’t crying and screaming, but in the Athenaeum, sounds travel and you can hear the drop of a pin.
“I made the decision for the audience who wanted to see the show and also I shouldn’t have been in that position, it’s a 15+ show.”
Ellen Sandel, a Greens MP in the Victorian parliament, took to social media to express her disappointment about the situation.
“I am livid at hearing this,” she said. “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.”
“A note to men who don’t get it: when a baby’s breastfeeding you literally have to be attached to them most of [the] time & can’t be separated for more than an hour or so.
“So if you don’t allow [breastfeeding] babies in public places, you’re actually saying women/mums aren’t allowed in those places.”