A comedian has hit out at a father after his crying baby “derailed large parts” of his set at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Matt Forde took to social media on Tuesday to issue a plea to parents, asking them not to bring their children to “adult shows”.
The frustrated comic explained the youngster had interrupted his set on multiple occasions at the Pleasance Courtyard in the Scottish capital on Monday.
While he acknowledged that it “must be tough” to be a new parent, Forde claimed the dad had failed to do the “decent thing” and leave when the child began to cry.
Dividing opinions on Twitter, he said: “Someone brought their baby to my show last night. Sadly it derailed large parts of it because they wouldn’t do the decent thing and just leave when it started crying.
“I get that it must be tough as a new parent but please, don’t bring babies to adult shows. It’s always a problem.
“I realise this sounds a bit whiny but it’s just to make sure it doesn’t happen again. It’s like someone’s phone continually ringing and them not turning it off.
“I’ve had so many messages from people who were there last night who were very polite about the fact it p****d them off.”
Angry tweeters soon shared their opinion from either side of the divide, with one exclaiming: “Good grief. Well if I ever planned to come to a show I certainly won’t be any more! What an attitude to have – as a parent of 2, I’d be feeling sorry for the parent of the crying baby – it’s hard enough without this kind of attitude!”
Another parent added: “Miserable attitude. We took our baby to a packed Pleasance gig in 2006. When she gurgled, [Andrew Maxwell] initially ask (sic) whether he was being heckled by a duck.
“Then he brought her on stage and she stole the show. Took her n me backstage as well. That’s true class, @mattforde”
On the other hand, a user seeing Forde’s point of view, said: “As a parent of two I feel sympathy for the people who paid to enjoy a show and were unable to as someone thought their right to watch it with a crying baby was more important than everyone’s right to enjoy what they had paid for.”
Another said: “Many people making excuses for the parents, “put yourself in their shoes” etc. What about the hundreds of other people in the audience??
“They might have saved for the show, possibly even made arrangements to have their kids looked after. No one is forced to take a baby to a show.”
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