Arj Barker responds after throwing breast-feeding mother out of Melbourne Comedy Festival performance

Comedian Arj Barker has come out on the defensive after kicking out a mother who was breastfeeding her child at his show during the 2024 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

The mother, Trish Faranda, was breastfeeding her 7-month-old daughter when Barker asked her and the child to leave, as the noises the child was making were throwing him off his set, and with it, his rapport with the 700 paying customers in attendance. 

However the move has sparked a backlash in Australia regarding breastfeeding in public, and if Barker’s comments amounted to shaming the women for undertaking something considered natural. 

Some felt that Barker forcing the woman out was disrespectful while others contend that the show being suitable for those aged 15 and over should have led to Faranda making arrangements before attending the show.

But speaking to radio outlets in Australia, Barker remains unrepentant about his decision: speaking to the country’s national broadcaster ABC, Barker stated “On behalf of the other 700 people there who had paid to see the gig, I politely told her the baby couldn’t stay,” 

“I have nothing against babies – number one, the breastfeeding thing is a non-issue, it should be inadmissible, and I had no idea if she was breastfeeding or not because I was on a lit stage,” he went on to detail to Nine News.

“All I could see was a woman likely holding a baby – the breastfeeding was never part of it. If it were the father, I would have acted the exact same way – it had to do with the baby making noise.

“It was purely an audio issue, it had nothing to do with her being a mom – I have nothing against moms.”

Faranda, however, felt that she was victimised when she was just trying to have a fun night out after delivering her child. “I speak fluent baby and it said take me outside,’” Faranda recalled, adding she had laughed along, not knowing whether he was being serious.

“I didn’t want to ruin anyone’s night, it was never my intention to go and disrupt people or create a scene,” she told Seven News, while further discussing with radio outlet 3AW that she felt Barker was intimidating her, leading her to leave with her group of friends along with several other females in the audience and “one lovely gentlemen” walked out in solidarity with her.

Do you agree or disagree with Arj Barker’s decision to eject a breastfeeding mother for the benefit of other audience members? Drop a comment down below if you’ve been in this situation yourselves or have an opinion on how Barker treated the situation.