A weekend visit to a Brooklyn Heights novelty shop has exploded into a full-blown celebrity feud, with Kelly Clarkson trading accusations with the owners of Art of Play after the singer claimed she was treated poorly because staff assumed she couldn't afford a $15,000 mechanical singing bird.
Clarkson lit the fuse on X (formerly Twitter) over the weekend, writing that an employee looked her up and down and condescendingly offered to find her a cheaper alternative when she admired the rare automaton bird, named 'Molly.' The singer said the encounter reminded her of Julia Roberts' character Vivian Ward being snubbed by snooty salespeople on Rodeo Drive in 'Pretty Woman,' and she called the staffer an 'idiot' who had forfeited a major sale.
The store fired back swiftly. The owners insisted that Molly was never for sale in the first place and said they had offered to show Clarkson a different $2,000 automaton instead, an offer she did not take up. Clarkson subsequently called the owners 'liars,' and co-owner Rubin escalated the war of words by accusing the singer of a 'reprehensible abuse of power.' In a statement quoted by Page Six, he said, 'This is not about Kelly Clarkson. This is about the power that we acquiesce to celebrity, and how okay we are with it as a society when they abuse it,' adding that celebrities 'need to be held accountable.'
The controversy took another turn when journalist Pablo Torre obtained the store's security footage and aired it on the Tuesday episode of his podcast, 'Pablo Torre Finds Out.' The video showed Clarkson inside the shop for just four minutes and 50 seconds, dressed in a yellow shirt, jeans, a baseball cap and a backpack. She is seen browsing, playing with a telescope, and speaking briefly with a shopkeeper about the bird. There is no audio with the footage. After the brief exchange, the employee turns to help another customer; Clarkson puts the telescope back, heads to the door, and appears to argue animatedly with the man at the cash register before leaving. She is then shown outside the store pulling out her phone.
The footage divided public opinion and the daytime television panel on 'The View,' where the co-hosts weighed in across multiple episodes. Sunny Hostin doubled down on her criticism, calling Clarkson 'petty' and saying she threw 'a bit of a tantrum,' noting that 'she wasn't in the store very long.' Guest co-host Raven-Symone agreed Clarkson was 'petty.' Sara Haines argued the singer went 'nuclear' by taking the dispute to social media, saying that once a celebrity does that, 'you're no longer looking for a solution.' Ana Navarro took issue with the idea of a celebrity with millions of followers rage-posting about a small business at all. Alyssa Farah Griffin said she understood the initial post but not the back-and-forth that followed.
Not everyone piled on. Comedian Kathy Griffin told Page Six she is firmly 'Team Kelly,' saying she has known the singer since the night she won 'American Idol' and believes Clarkson is telling the truth. Griffin called the store owners 'petty' for how they handled the dispute and said she believes Clarkson posted impulsively late at night rather than as a calculated attack.
Clarkson, meanwhile, has carried on with business as usual. The U.S. Sun reported that she returned to the stage for the first time since the feud at a corporate event at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Wednesday night, performing hits like 'Breakaway' and 'Since U Been Gone' in good spirits. According to a source, she did not address the controversy during the show. Page Six has reached out to Clarkson for comment on the footage and the store's accusations.