Comedian Defends Decision to Boot Breastfeeding Mom and Baby From Show

Comedian Arj Barker released a statement Monday defending his decision to ask a breastfeeding mother to leave his show in Australia over the weekend due to her baby allegedly disrupting the performance.

The American comic was on stage at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne on Saturday night as part of the city’s international comedy festival when he asked the mother, Trish Faranda, and her 7-month-old daughter, Clara, to leave. Around 10 others also walked out of the show in solidarity, Faranda told The Age.

Faranda says her baby was giggling and gurgling occasionally during the show and that she began breastfeeding when Clara started to “whinge.” It was then, she claims, that Barker stood in front of her and speaking on the microphone “was basically saying that I was interrupting his rhythm and I should leave,” she told The Age. “Then he turned to the crowd to get support from them to say, ‘Get out.’”

Read more at The Daily Beast.