The mother who was booted from a comedy show because her baby was crying has tried to get her point across on television but her attempt to gain sympathy has backfired.
Trish Faranda went on A Current Affair on Monday night after she was asked to leave Arj Barker’s show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival because her seven-month-old was crying.
But as she was explaining what had happened, her baby became unsettled and viewers struggled to hear what she or interviewer Ally Langdon were saying.
Taking to ACA’s Facebook page one person wrote: “She couldn’t even get through this 5 minute interview properly because her baby was playing up the whole time.
“I have kids and there is always a time a place for little children. This mother is so entitled it’s unbelievable.”
“The baby’s performance on A Current Affair says it all,” another wrote.
“This interview was an absolute train wreck. Ally ended it as soon as she could because that kid was uncontrollable. Imagine that at a comedy show. A few times I turned the volume down,” a third viewer said.
Faranda, a mother of three, was accused of “distracting” Barker during his performance at the Athenaeum Theatre on Saturday night.
She was breastfeeding at the time but Barker later said he didn’t know she was feeding as he couldn’t see her due to the glare from the stage lights.
Faranda was forced to leave with around 10 other audience member leaving in solidarity with her, while other audience members heckled her.
The incident has sparked a fierce debate with many defending the mum’s right to enjoy a comedy show and others saying she should have stayed at home.
Speaking on a ACA, Faranda said her baby was babbling before she decided to give her a “quick feed”.
“She started giggling, bubbling, similar to what you’ve heard, not for very long because then I just go for a quick feed and she was quiet. Arj Barker noticed her and he made some jokes and it was OK but at the end of that little segment, he said ‘I speak baby and it said take me outside’, and then he repeated that, and everybody was laughing, so everybody thought that was funny,” she told Langdon.
“I was not quite sure he was joking about that last bit.”
During the ACA interview the baby then started crying loudly Faranda was trying to speak. But she insisted it wasn’t anywhere near as bad during Barker’s comedy set.
“Yeah, a maybe a bit louder but nothing louder than some coughing in the audience and I was vigilant, people were looking at us, so I thought ‘we weren’t really impacting anyone that I can tell, I think were OK’,” she said.
Faranda then questioned why a comedy show wasn’t a place for a baby.
“Well, to each their own I guess. But why is it not a place for a baby?” she asked
“If they’re not being disruptive, I don’t understand. Is it any different to a heckler, do they boot out hecklers if they say something? Comedians put up with a lot, don’t they?
“I don’t feel like we were anywhere near that level.”
Faranda has done a number of interviews following the incident but has continued to attract backlash from the public.
Speaking to 3AW Radio on Monday morning, she insisted her baby “wasn’t screaming” and hit back at critics who questioned why she took a kid to a “15 plus” comedy show.
“She wasn’t screaming, she was just being a baby, she gurgled a little bit, she had a bit of a whinge… nothing loud,” she said.
The mother said she had intentionally booked seats with her sister and a friend near the front of the theatre but to the side so she could make a quick exit if her baby got too noisy.
“I didn’t want to impact other people, people were out to have a good night.”
In a statement, Barker refused to back down, insisting the baby was “disrupting” his performance.
“The show is strictly age 15 plus as clearly stated on the ticket site. She had an infant with her. The baby was disrupting my performance,” he said.
“On behalf of the other 700 people who paid to see the gig, I politely told her the baby couldn’t stay. She thought I was kidding, which made the exchange a bit awkward.
“I felt bad about the whole situation and stated this on the night more than once. I offered her a refund. Theatre staff should not have seated a baby in my audience in the first place.”
Barker also spoke to 3AW Radio in a bid to clear his name on Monday.
“(In that theatre) sound travels, you can hear the drop of a pin,” he told host Tom Elliott.
“It doesn’t take much to distract an audience, and I’ve worked on these jokes and there’s timing and there’s pauses, and it’s just not going to work with the baby.
“I made the decision, it wasn’t easy, it was really awkward for me. I said ‘I’m really sorry but the baby can’t stay’.”
Barker said he placed the blame with promoters for allowing the woman to enter the venue despite there being a 15-plus age limit advertised online.
He also rubbished suggestions the fact the woman was breastfeeding had anything to do with the move.
“I could just make out a woman holding a baby, I had zero idea if she was breastfeeding – nor would that have been a factor, because I don’t have any problem with that.”
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