Comedian Arj Barker stirred controversy during his comedy show at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne on Saturday night by asking a breastfeeding mother and her baby to leave.

In a statement shared on his Instagram, Barker explained that he noticed a baby in the audience “talking” at the beginning of his show, which led him to make some jokes about it. However, when the baby continued to make noise, Barker felt compelled to take action.

“I then calmly informed the woman holding the baby that the baby couldn’t stay,” Barker stated. “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.”

Barker stressed that he made the decision on behalf of the other audience members who deserved an uninterrupted show. He also noted that the performance was intended for audiences aged 15 and above, and suggested that the theater should have alerted him to the presence of the baby before seating the mother.

In an interview with the Australian TV show “A Current Affair,” the mother, Trish Faranda, expressed feeling humiliated by the incident. She explained that she had attended the comedy festival show with a plan to leave if her 7-month-old baby, Clara, became disruptive. Faranda recounted that after a brief period of gurgling and babbling, she had quickly fed her baby, after which Clara remained quiet. However, the baby made some noise again, which Faranda described as not as loud as a cough.

Faranda felt that Barker was trying to garner support from the crowd to eject her and her baby from the show, which she perceived as heckling.

Barker clarified in his statement that his decision was not based on whether the mother was breastfeeding or not. “For the record, I support public breastfeeding, as it’s perfectly natural,” he asserted.

While Barker did not apologize to Faranda directly, he expressed regret “for any upset it has caused the parties involved, or my fans, or babies,” adding a touch of humor by noting, “I’ve nothing against babies, in fact I was one once, for almost 2 years.”