Arj Barker has made a peace offer as he doubled down on his decision to tell a breastfeeding mother to leave his show.
The popular comedian has hit back at the firestorm sparked when he ejected mother-of-three Trish Faranda from his show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival on Saturday night, which divided Australia.
Ms Faranda claimed she was humiliated and moved to tears when the American comedian booted her and seven-month-old daughter Clara from the gig.
She claimed Clara was babbling and “whining a bit” before Mrs Faranda fed her. She was then ordered by Barker to leave after a 15-minute performance because they were “disrupting his show.”
The comedian broke his silence to stand by his decision that baby Clara should not have been on his over-15s show in the first place.
He also apologized to Ms Faranda for the embarrassment caused and made a light-hearted attempt to make amends.
‘I hope you’re well. “I’m sorry this has been a difficult situation, and I would like to make peace,” he told Sunrise on Tuesday.
Melbourne mother-of-three Trish Faranda and baby Clara were asked to leave his show by comedian Arj Barker on Saturday evening
‘I would like to meet her and have a serious discussion about selling the film rights and a 50-50 policy.
‘I would also like to offer that little child a ticket to my show after 2039 to the beautiful baby that I have nothing against.’
Barker admitted it was an unfortunate and difficult situation for everyone involved.
“I’m not going to hide because I want people to know the truth about what happened, at least from my perspective,” he said.
‘Both myself and the woman were put in a position wHe shouldn’t have been there.’
Barker insists he has no problem with breastfeeding in public, which he described as completely natural.
Arj Barker (pictured speaking to Sunrise on Tuesday) has doubled down on his decision but admitted it was an unfortunate situation for everyone involved
The comedian has publicly apologized to Trish Faranda, along with a refund
He added that he had no idea what Ms Faranda was doing at the time.
“I couldn’t see her well enough to know if she was breastfeeding or not – I didn’t find out until two days after the incident,” he continued.
“I want to make that very clear because it’s been talked about so much, and if it was her, I wouldn’t care.”
Barker acknowledged that the baby was not screaming, but said her “cute” noises distracted the audience.
He stood by his decision to ask the mother to leave – a decision that has polarized Australians.
“It’s about the audience enjoying an immersive experience of watching a comedy show with timing and pauses and being drawn into the show,” Barker explains.
‘I think as an artist I have the right to ask a disruptive audience member to leave the show.
‘Unfortunately at the time it was a cute little baby and it had nothing to do with the mother or the gender of the parent.
‘If it was a father, I would have said the exact same thing.
“From where I’m standing on stage, I’m just trying to create a beautiful environment to perform my show.”
Arj Barker said baby Clara should not have taken part in the over-15s show
The saga has divided Aussies over who was wrong.
‘The staff didn’t seem to mind. But this was handled very poorly and I say unprofessionally,” said an onlooker.
Other Aussies jumped to Barker’s defense.
“It’s quite insane, selfish to the mother and disrespectful to child welfare to take a baby somewhere where the child can be restricted,” one person tweeted.
Another added: ‘I don’t know what Arj Barker actually said nor how he said it but imagine being so selfish to choose to take a baby to a comic or a theater show and not leave go when he starts to cry. Watch how the fake signalers get this one.”
Barker was asked by Sunrise presenters Matt Shirvington and Natalie Barr if he could have handled the situation differently.
‘There were a few people shouting at the time. It was unclear to me whether they were yelling at me or at her,” he recalls.
‘It was a very chaotic few minutes.
“At the time, I was just focused on…I was worried about her being upset.
“And I said, ‘Look, you know, I’m really sorry.’
“I offered her a refund, which may not be a big deal, but it was sincere.”
Barker performed his new show Mind Field at Melbourne’s Athenaeum Theater from March 28 to April 21
Ms Faranda later disputed Barker’s claims that he had ‘gently’ asked her to leave.
“If Arj had asked me nicely to leave, like he says, I would have gone,” she told Sunrise afterwards.
“I would have been mortified if we had interrupted his flow and his show, and I would have never talked about it.
“But I don’t feel like that happened.
“I feel like he used his position on that stage and his microphone to really intimidate me.”