Comedian Arj Barker has published a social media statement defending his decision to remove a nursing mother named Trish Faranda and her 7-month-old daughter, Clara, from his show in Melbourne, Australia, on Saturday night (April 20), saying it was based solely on the “interruption of the audio” of your set. She added that she supports “breastfeeding in public, as it is perfectly natural.”
In his account of the incident, Barker said he heard a baby “not crying but 'talking' like them” shortly after he began his performance at the Athenaeum Theater for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. After the baby “screamed again” a few minutes later, he became “quite concerned” about how the distraction would affect the other attendees' enjoyment of his performance.
“In my experience doing comedy for almost 35 years, audience attention is a delicate thing,” Barker explained. “If a noise or movement distracts people in the middle of a prank, the reward can be greatly diminished.”
At this point, he made “a difficult decision” with about 50 minutes left in the show. “I then calmly informed the woman she was holding the baby that the baby could not stay,” Barker wrote. “I felt bad doing it and I said it at the time and several times throughout the rest of the show. As he was leaving, I offered him a refund, as a gesture of goodwill.”
Barker described his decision as a “very difficult decision” that he “made on behalf of the other 700 audience members who deserved to see the show they had paid for, without interruption.” She went on to point out that the show was advertised as “Strictly for audiences 15+” on the ticket-buying site, and said the theater “should have flagged this before seating her.”
The comedian also said it was “blatantly false” to suggest his actions had anything to do with her breastfeeding the baby because he “couldn't see well enough to know if she was breast-feeding or not.” Barker added: “This all had to do with the AUDIO interruption of my show, nothing more. For the record, I support public breastfeeding as it is perfectly natural.” Read the full statement below.
For his part, Faranda told the Melbourne newspaper Age that she didn't think her daughter was loud. “I get embarrassed easily and would have left immediately if I thought she was loud and uncontrollable or that she was even starting to get like that,” she said. “But she didn't give me the chance.”
Age She said Faranda described her baby as “gurgling and giggling from time to time” and that she began breastfeeding when her daughter began “complaining.” At that point, according to Faranda, Barker turned to her through the microphone and “was basically saying that I was interrupting her beat and that I should leave. Then he turned to the crowd to get their support and tell them, 'Get out.'”
Faranda said that while some women encouraged her to stay, she felt too uncomfortable to remain seated. Calling the experience “quite humiliating,” she added: “How horrible it is that, as a mother, you isolate yourself so much because you think you won't be tolerated with your child in public; Because God forbid, they make a little bit of noise, like babies tend to do sometimes.
One person in the audience said Age that while Faranda's son “made a little noise, like babies do,” it was “really awkward” when Barker told the mother to leave. That person added that as a group of women and several other audience members left during the night, “there were a couple of women who yelled, 'Yeah, just get out of here.'”
In a statement, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival said Barker's show was “independently produced” and took place at a venue “not managed by the festival.” The statement continues: “However, any interaction between artists and their audiences requires sensitivity and respect.”
“At venues run by our festival, babies in arms are generally allowed, but we ask people to sit in the back with their child so they can leave quickly and easily if the baby makes noise so as not to disturb the artist and other patrons. .”
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