Arj Barker: Comedian hits back after he kicked out a breastfeeding woman from his Melbourne Comedy Festival show

Arj Barker has issued a peace offering as he doubled down on his decision to tell a breastfeeding mum to leave his show.

The popular comedian has hit back at the firestorm created when he ejected  mother-of-three Trish Faranda from  his Melbourne Comedy Festival show on Saturday night, which has divided Australia.

Ms Faranda claimed that she was humiliated and reduced to tears when the US comedian booted her and seven-month-old daughter Clara from the performance.

She claimed Clara was babbling and 'had a bit of a whinge' before Ms Faranda gave her a feed. She was then ordered to leave by Barker 15 minutes into the gig as they were 'disrupting his show'.

The comedian broke his silence to stand by his decision that baby Clara shouldn't have been at his over-15s show in the first place.

He also apologised to Ms Faranda for the embarrassment caused and made a light-hearted attempt to make amends.

'I hope you're doing okay. I'm sorry that that was a difficult situation, and I would like to make peace,' he told Sunrise on Tuesday.

'I would like to meet up with her and have a serious discussion about selling the movie rights and go 50-50.

'Also, to the beautiful baby who I have nothing against, I want to offer that little child a ticket to my show post-dated 2039.'

Barker admitted it was an unfortunate and tricky situation for everyone involved. 

'I'm not gonna hide because I want people to know the truth of what happened, at least from my perspective,' he said.

'Both myself and the woman were put in a position we shouldn't have been in.' 

Barker insists he has no issue with public breastfeeding which he described as perfectly natural.

He added he had no idea what Ms Faranda was doing at the time. 

'I couldn't see her well enough to know if she was breastfeeding or not - that's something I only heard about two days after the incident,' he continued.

'I want to make that really clear because it's been mentioned so much I had, and if she was, I wouldn't care.'

Barker acknowledged that the baby wasn't screaming but said that her 'cute' noises were distracting the audience.

He stood by his decision to ask the mum to leave - a decision that has polarised Aussies.  

'It's about the crowd enjoying an immersive experience of watching a comedy show with timing and pauses and getting drawn into the show,' Barker explained.

'I think as a performer, I have a right to ask a disruptive audience member to leave the show.

'Unfortunately, it was a cute little baby at this time and nothing to do with the mum or the gender of the parent. 

'If it was a father, I would have said the exact same thing.

'From where I'm standing on stage, I'm merely trying to create a nice environment to perform my show.'

The saga has split Aussies over who was in the wrong.

The staff didn't seem to mind. But this was handled very poorly and I say unprofessionally, one audience member said.

Other Aussies leapt to Barker's defence.

'It's rather mad, selfish for the mother, and disregard for the child welfare to take a baby to somewhere that could make the infant restricted,' one tweeted.

Another added: 'Don't know what Arj Barker actually said nor how he said it, but imagine being so selfish to choose to take a baby to a comic or any theatre show and not leave if it starts crying. Watch the fake signallers get hold of this one.'

Barker was asked by Sunrise hosts Matt Shirvington and Natalie Barr if he could have handled the situation differently.

'There was a few people yelling out at the time. It was unclear to me if they were yelling at me or her,' he recalled.

'It was a very chaotic few minutes. 

'At that time, I was merely focused on ... I was concerned about her being upset. 

'And I was saying, 'Look, you know, I'm really sorry'.

'I offered her a refund, which, you know, which is maybe not a big deal, but it was sincere.'

Ms Faranda later disputed Barker's claims that he 'gently' asked her to leave.

'Had Arj asked me to leave politely, as he's saying he did, I would have gone,' she told Sunrise afterwards.

'I would have been mortified that we interrupted his flow and his show and I would have never spoken about it. 

'But I don't feel that that's what happened. 

'I feel like he used his position on that stage and his microphone to really intimidate me.'