diff --git a/lib/internal/event_target.js b/lib/internal/event_target.js
index 8117b96a2d40a4..67ddc0dc129f8e 100644
--- a/lib/internal/event_target.js
+++ b/lib/internal/event_target.js
@@ -83,8 +83,9 @@ class Event {
   constructor(type, options = null) {
     if (arguments.length === 0)
       throw new ERR_MISSING_ARGS('type');
-    if (options !== null)
-      validateObject(options, 'options');
+    validateObject(options, 'options', {
+      allowArray: true, allowFunction: true, nullable: true,
+    });
     const { cancelable, bubbles, composed } = { ...options };
     this[kCancelable] = !!cancelable;
     this[kBubbles] = !!bubbles;
@@ -542,7 +543,9 @@ function shouldAddListener(listener) {
 function validateEventListenerOptions(options) {
   if (typeof options === 'boolean')
     return { capture: options };
-  validateObject(options, 'options');
+  validateObject(options, 'options', {
+    allowArray: true, allowFunction: true,
+  });
   return {
     once: Boolean(options.once),
     capture: Boolean(options.capture),
diff --git a/lib/internal/validators.js b/lib/internal/validators.js
index ac54c96bb2dec0..ebd2b5222dcfe4 100644
--- a/lib/internal/validators.js
+++ b/lib/internal/validators.js
@@ -150,10 +150,16 @@ function validateBoolean(value, name) {
 }
 
 const validateObject = hideStackFrames(
-  (value, name, { nullable = false } = {}) => {
+  (value, name, {
+    nullable = false,
+    allowArray = false,
+    allowFunction = false,
+  } = {}) => {
     if ((!nullable && value === null) ||
-        ArrayIsArray(value) ||
-        typeof value !== 'object') {
+        (!allowArray && ArrayIsArray(value)) ||
+        (typeof value !== 'object' && (
+          !allowFunction || typeof value !== 'function'
+        ))) {
       throw new ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE(name, 'Object', value);
     }
   });
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-eventtarget.js b/test/parallel/test-eventtarget.js
index 1918394fbae5e1..07523f02bdf10f 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-eventtarget.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-eventtarget.js
@@ -61,7 +61,6 @@ let asyncTest = Promise.resolve();
     'foo',
     1,
     false,
-    function() {},
   ].forEach((i) => (
     throws(() => new Event('foo', i), {
       code: 'ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE',
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-validators.js b/test/parallel/test-validators.js
index cf4ba17f52e9d7..55c73b2d86d388 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-validators.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-validators.js
@@ -78,14 +78,17 @@ const invalidArgValueError = {
   validateObject({}, 'foo');
   validateObject({ a: 42, b: 'foo' }, 'foo');
 
-  [undefined, null, true, false, 0, 0.0, 42, '', 'string', []]
+  [undefined, null, true, false, 0, 0.0, 42, '', 'string', [], () => {}]
     .forEach((val) => {
       assert.throws(() => {
         validateObject(val, 'foo');
       }, invalidArgTypeError);
     });
 
+  // validateObject options tests:
   validateObject(null, 'foo', { nullable: true });
+  validateObject([], 'foo', { allowArray: true });
+  validateObject(() => {}, 'foo', { allowFunction: true });
 }
 
 {