The Project has been savaged online over a tone-deaf comment from host Sarah Harris during an interview with a mum who was booted from a comedy show.
The Project has been brutally mocked over its interview with a breastfeeding mother who was booted from a comedy show because her seven-month-old baby was crying.
Mother-of-three Trish Faranda sparked a media storm after describing Arj Barker’s decision to kick her from his Melbourne show on Saturday night as “intimidating and humiliating”.
The Aussie-based US comedian has stood by his actions, saying the bub was disrupting the show.
Ms Faranda did the media rounds on Monday night to tell her side of the story, but her attempt to gain sympathy appeared to backfire as her unsettled bub drowned out questions.
During an interview with Ms Faranda on The Project, host Sarah Harris was savaged for one tone-deaf remark.
“Maybe she can go to dad just for a quick second… a mum with three little kids, I reckon you need to laugh,” Ms Harris suggested as Waleed Aly sheepishly laughed.
The Project host Sarah Harris has been mocked over a tone-deaf comment during an interview with a mum who was booted from a comedy show. Picture: Ten
Ms Faranda apologised and handed her crying baby off screen before revealing she was “prepared to leave” the gig if she felt like her baby was “impacting other people”.
“The fact that he (Barker) was on the mic – it felt intimidating – I was breastfeeding at the time, so you do feel more vulnerable,” she added.
The Project was forced to disable comments on the interview as social media was flooded with comments calling out Harris for the own goal.
“There’s something really really funny about The Project host asking for the baby to leave for being disruptive during the interview and then going right back to empathising with the mother about being asked to take her baby out during a comedy show for being disruptive,” wrote one viewer.
“Hilarious. The Project takes aim at comedian Arj Barker because he asked a mother/baby to leave & avoid disrupting a live show. At the 3 min mark Sarah Harris kicks the same baby off the air to avoid disrupting the show. You can’t make this up,” added another.
“This is hilarious. Well done The Project and Sarah Harris for showing how distracting a whining baby can be when you’re trying to entertain people,” added a third.
The Project’s Sarah Harris has copped criticism after suggesting the mother should hand her baby over to her partner in order to continue the interview. Picture: Twitter
‘Train wreck’ interview on ACA
During a separate interview on Nine’s A Current Affair, Ms Faranda’s 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.
The mum was booted out of a comedian’s show because her baby girl was making noise in the crowd. She says the incident left her feeling “humiliated”.
Ms Faranda questioned why a comedy show wasn’t a place for a baby.
‘Intimidating and humiliating’
Ms Faranda earlier told 7News that the experience at the Athenaeum Theatre on Saturday night was “intimidating and humiliating”.
“(Clara) wasn’t yelling … I could equate it to if someone had a cough during the show.
“If he had just stopped the show, moved the microphone away and said to me, ‘Hey, actually I’m finding it a bit distracting. Do you mind leaving?’, I wouldn’t have minded”.
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.
Ms Faranda was forced to leave with around 10 other audience members 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 ACA, Ms 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 Ms Langdon.
“I was not quite sure he was joking about that last bit.”
During the ACA interview the baby then started crying loudly Ms Faranda was trying to speak. But she insisted it wasn’t anywhere near as bad during Barker’s comedy set.
Ms 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.”
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.
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.
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 bub 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’.”
Source: Herald Sun
The women is shocking to think she could control an entire performance with a 7 month old baby. She should have excused herself had she not been so entitled.