Claire Moses
It was a five-minute shopping trip that lit up the internet.
On Saturday, Kelly Clarkson, a singer and television personality, dropped into Art of Play, a high-end shop on Atlantic Avenue in New York City’s Brooklyn borough that sells games and novelty items, and hosts magic shows in a theatre hidden in the back.
Instead of having a cute time shopping for quirky items — from packs of specialty playing cards to thousand-dollar kinetic sculptures — Clarkson said she was made to feel like Julia Roberts’ character in Pretty Woman, treated as if she was not good enough for the store’s merchandise.
In the 1990 film, Roberts’ character had the last laugh when she returned to the store to show off an armload of bags from other boutiques. But this is 2026, so Clarkson turned to social media.
“Just drove all the way to Brooklyn to check out this store I thought looked really rad,” Clarkson posted Saturday. She said she “literally was looked at as if I couldn’t afford it” and added that the salesperson in the shop told her that he would find her something else to buy.
“Wow, dude. You’re an idiot and just lost a huge sale,” Clarkson wrote. (Or in the words of Roberts’ character: “Big mistake. Big. Huge!“)
Those were uncharacteristically sharp words from the former American Idol winner, who has a reputation for authenticity and warmth. By Monday morning, her post had been viewed more than 40 million times.
The item that appeared to have caught Clarkson’s eye during what the store said was a five-minute visit was a mechanical yellow bird mounted on the wall and attached to a wooden crank. The next day, Art of Play responded with an Instagram post clarifying that the winged curio had a name: Molly, a “one-of-a-kind singing and dancing bird automaton who plays an important role in the magic shows we host here.”
And it added: “Molly is permanently attached to the wall and isn’t for sale.”
This is where the internet sleuths got involved.
Some noted that a post from September that has been pinned at the top of the store’s Instagram account shows the bird next to the words, “Our favourite items not for sale.”
Others pointed to images online — though not clearly dated — that appeared to show a $US15,000 price tag posted on the wall next to the bird.
It was not clear if the Art of Play clerk had recognised Clarkson, but the shop faced an immediate backlash from her social media followers. “Imagine our surprise when our small local business was suddenly attacked by eight million people who have never visited our store,” it said in the post.
But the store said it was hoping to defuse the feud: “We’re going to keep our heads down and hopefully, we can clear things up with Kelly someday.”
Sunday was not that day.
“Okay, cool,” Clarkson responded in a post a few hours later, including a grainy photo from social media that appeared to show the $US15,000 ($21,000) price tag. “So you’re not only rude, you’re also a liar.”
The singer doubled down with detail about the interaction with a clerk.
“So the whole conversation we had when I asked you if it was for sale whilst pointing to the price tag hanging on the wall with the title ‘Singing Bird’ didn’t happen as you elevator eyed me saying in a condescending tone ‘yes, it’s for sale but it costs 15,000 dollars so if you’d like me to find something comparable for you I can,’” Clarkson wrote.
She went on: “I love small businesses and know they are important and I always support them, but you don’t get a free pass to treat people less than in your store just because you are a small business.”
The online battle lines were now clearly drawn. On one side were those sympathetic to the store — one social media user described the staff as a friendly “bunch of puzzle nerds” — who said that a star of Clarkson’s stature was punching down.
Others supported Clarkson’s account, some with their own stories of when they had felt judged by salespeople.
Art of Play could not keep its head down. The store posted again to its Instagram account late Sunday with “one additional detail.” It said that it had offered Clarkson a “nearly identical” version of the bird that she could buy directly from the designer who made both, the Seattle-based artist Bliss Kolb, for $US15,000.
(Some online observers pointed out that the existence of a dupe made Molly not exactly “one-of-a-kind,” but for the sake of not letting this story grow even longer, let’s not get hung up on that.)
The store was closed Monday for the Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day holidays, and neither the co-founders, Dan and Dave Buck, or their business partner, Adam Rubin, responded to requests for comment.
Art of Play added that it had offered to show Clarkson a different singing bird that was available to take home that day — a German-made automaton it sells for $US2,000 — but she “did not stick around long enough to see it.”
The store said that it had “reached out to Kelly directly to try and clear the air.” At this point in the saga, no one should be holding their breath.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.