Kelly Clarkson accuses Brooklyn shop Art of Play of snubbing her over $15,000 bird
Kelly Clarkson says a Brooklyn shop treated her like the Pretty Woman character because she looked unable to afford a $15,000 singing bird. The shop says the bird was permanently mounted on the wall and never for sale.
A short shopping trip becomes an online feud
On Saturday, 10 October, singer Kelly Clarkson visited Art of Play, a shop on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn that sells games and novelty items and hosts magic shows in a theatre at the back, according to The New York Times. She said she was treated as if she could not afford the merchandise, and that an employee offered to find her something else. She took the complaint to social media the same day, comparing the experience to the treatment of Julia Roberts's character in the 1990 film Pretty Woman. In the post, which she wrote on Saturday, Clarkson described the trip this way:
Just drove all the way to Brooklyn to check out this store I thought looked really rad.
She wrote that she was looked at as if she could not afford the item, and that she was told a comparable piece could be found for her. The Times described the wording as uncharacteristically sharp for a singer known for authenticity and warmth.
What the shop and Clarkson dispute
In a follow-up post on X, Clarkson named the object of her interest as a one-of-a-kind singing and dancing automaton called 'Molly', a mechanical bird. She said the owner looked her up and down and, in a condescending tone, told her the bird was for sale at $15,000 and offered to find something similar. She also shared a photo of the price tag hanging on the wall beside the bird. The Telegraph reported the bird's price as £11,000. She then wrote the following about the store's employee:
Wow, dude. You're an idiot and just lost a huge sale.
Clarkson said she values supporting small businesses but would not accept being treated as inferior, and she called the employee 'not only rude, you're also a liar'. She wrote that the store itself was really cool but that the owner was not.
The shop replied on Instagram that Molly was a permanently fixed, unsellable piece and that Clarkson had asked to buy it. It said it had hoped to make all guests feel welcome and described the attention as a 'surreal experience'. The owner says he offered to ask the bird's designer whether a similar piece could be ordered, or to look for something comparable in the shop.
Reach and reaction online
By Monday morning, 12 October, Clarkson's post had been viewed more than 40 million times, according to The New York Times. Variety noted that she has nearly 9 million followers, which it described as the audience that turned the complaint into a wider controversy. The shop said its small local business had suddenly been attacked by eight million people, most of whom had never been inside the store. It also said it had received many negative online reviews after the post.
- Clarkson visits Art of Play in Brooklyn and posts her complaint on X
- Clarkson's post has been viewed more than 40 million times by Monday morning
Open questions
The two accounts conflict on the central question of whether the bird was for sale. Clarkson's version rests on the photo of a price tag she shared, while the shop says the bird was permanently mounted and never offered. The articles do not report a resolution, and the posts from Clarkson and the shop remain the only direct statements from either side. The Times described Clarkson as a former 'American Idol' winner whose words in this case were unusually sharp.
