Yahoo Lifestyle 
The Project hosts' awkward moment with breastfeeding mum asked to leave Arj Barker's show
Trish Faranda appeared on The Project and A Current Affair to share her experience and she brought baby Clara along with her.
The mum who was asked to leave Arj Barker's Melbourne comedy show on Saturday night has been doing the media rounds to share her side of the story...but things didn't go exactly as she probably hoped.
ICYMI: Stand-up comic Arj Barker was performing on Saturday night and asked a mum and her 7-month-old baby to leave after the baby became a little disruptive to both him and the audience. A family member of the mum's then took to X to share what had happened, noting that the mum was breastfeeding at the time. This, of course, led to public outrage that a man had kicked a breastfeeding woman out of his event, but Arj told Yahoo Lifestyle that he didn't realise the woman was nursing and "made the decision on behalf of the 700 or so other punters."
On Monday the mum, Trish Faranda, appeared on The Project to explain the incident from her point of view, bringing baby Clara along with her.
As hosts Sarah Harris and Waleed Aly chatted to Trish, Clara became unsettled and began to cry - prompting Sarah to suggest that Dad take over for a bit so Trish could finish the interview. Of course, the irony of this was not lost on viewers who quickly ran to social media to share their thoughts.
"The interview just proved a point," one person wrote.
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"Wait, so woman gets asked to leave a comedy show due to her baby crying… woman then goes on tv to complain and baby has to leave interview due to crying!!," another gleefully relayed.
Another pointed out, "Baby disrupted the interview and @SarahHarris asked the baby to leave."
Over on The Project's Facebook page others pointed out the same thing with one person writing, "30 seconds in and the kid demonstrated exactly how disruptive it would have been during the gig. Well done!"
"Did we just witness what essentially happened on the night?" someone else asked.
Said another, "That kid literally just illustrated supreme justification for her being asked to leave."
Trish chats to A Current Affair
In addition to The Project, Trish also appeared on A Current Affair to share her experience...with the same result.
"This showed exactly why she got kicked out and rightly so," someone wrote on ACA's Facebook page. "Screaming baby lol! She shouldn’t have taken the baby in there in the first place. Imagine if you had to sit near them … no thanks!"
"That baby kept it real lol," another said.
Arj's statement on Instagram
Meanwhile, Arj has posted a lengthy statement on his Instagram account, addressing what happened at the show.
"BabyGate: Let's Clear the Air," he begins the post.
"I had just started my show last Sat night in Melbourne. “The Atheneum [sic] was pretty full and everyone seemed in a great mood,” he wrote. “Then I heard a baby — not crying but ‘talking’ as they do — a few rows from the stage. I made a few jokes about the baby not disrupting my show, and they were well received, then moved on.”
He goes on to say that the baby continued to "call out" which then made him concerned as "an audience's focus is a delicate thing."
"If a noise or movement distracts people mid joke, the payoff can be greatly diminished," he said.
He continues, "I then calmly informed the woman holding the baby that the baby couldn't stay. I felt bad doing so and stated this at the time as well as several times throughout the remainder of the show. As she was leaving, I offered for her to get a refund, as a gesture of good will."
While the post attracted some comments still suggesting that Arj had done the wrong thing in asking the mum to leave, the majority of them were from fans who were in support of his decision.
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"I 100% support and respect this decision! people - don't take your babies to shows, you're just ruining everyone else's experience and night out to enjoy a comedy show!" one person wrote.
"Well said Arj," said another. "Fully support your decision."
Trish says she felt 'vulnerable'
Speaking to The Project, Trish said she had been prepared to leave if she felt that Clara was impacting other people at the show and she was upset by how she was asked to exit more than being asked in the first place.
"He could have just off-mic said 'actually it's really disrupting me, do you mind' and I would have happily packed up and gone," Trish said. "And I don't think any of the crowd would have followed me out at that point."
She continued, "But the fact that he was on the mic...it felt intimidating but I was breastfeeding at the time so you do feel a bit more vulnerable. And then he asked for support of the crowd to basically say I should leave and they've also heckled a little bit when we were leaving so I think it's that which is the problem."
Arj wasn't aware of breastfeeding
While many were quick to assume that Trish had been asked to leave because she was breastfeeding, Arj has said that was not the case at all.
Speaking to Yahoo Lifestyle, Arj explained that he didn't even know the mother was breastfeeding and had asked her to leave purely because of the audio factor.
"I did not have any inkling about breastfeeding until this morning," the comedian said. "I cannot see the audience well enough to discern features like that. They are in the dark and I have bright lights in my face. This was all to do with an audio disruption of my show, nothing more."
He continued, "For the record, I am happy for anyone to breastfeed a baby anywhere they like, as I feel it’s perfectly natural and therefore a nonissue to me."
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