Comedian Arj Barker became irritated in an Australian TV interview following his kicking out a mother and baby from his show at the 2024 Melbourne International Comedy Festival over the weekend.
On the Today show's Tuesday episode, the former Flight of the Conchords TV star raised his voice to host Karl Stefanovic when asked if he would support a woman "trapped in the cycle of breastfeeding".
"[I had] absolutely had no idea if she was breastfeeding or not," Barker shouts in the footage, before adding "let's stop talking about that".
"I couldn't see well enough to know that Karl," he said before he apologised and added: "I didn't mean to raise my voice."
The baby had made noises throughout his Mind Field gig at the Athenaeum Theatre on Saturday and during the show Barker made a few jokes about the child being in the audience but then got serious, telling the mother to leave.
It was reported several others in the audience left the show in disgust at his actions.
Earlier in the interview, Barker had revealed when on stage he could not see anyone in the audience other than just "shapes".
"I have nothing against babies - number one, the breastfeeding thing is a non-issue, it should be inadmissible and I had no idea if she was breastfeeding or not because I was on a lit stage," he said.
"All I could see was a woman likely holding a baby - the breastfeeding was never part of it. If it were the father, I would have acted the exact same way - it had to do with the baby making noise."
Barker explained he had performed for decades, but this was the first show where "you could hear a pin drop".
"It was purely an audio issue, it had nothing to do with her being a mum - I have nothing against mums," he said.
"It's a theatrical show and it wasn't about me, it was about the audience being able to have the immersion to enjoy the show and enjoy the rhythm and the pauses and the timing.
"If you're trying to watch something and there's a noise over here, or a phone rings over there, it takes you out of it, so that's the only reason I said the baby's going to disrupt the show, but it wasn't anything to do with me not being able to perform, it was on behalf of the audience.
"I have nothing against anyone and I feel bad for how much angst and upset this has caused because people know me, they know I'm not a bad guy, I'm a gentle person and I would never wish, harm on anyone."
