If Kelly Clarkson still wants that singing mechanical bird, she can apparently now buy it for an insanely high price.
According to USA Today, Art of Play co-owner Adam Rubin has decided to put its automated bird Molly on sale for $15 million given all the attention the bird has received in the wake of the shop’s viral feud with the American Idol star.
The listing in the shop now reads: “Molly. Designed and created by Bliss Kolb. The world’s most famous singing bird automata! $15,000,000.”
USA Today added that Rubin said if someone actually bought Molly he would give each employee in the shop $15,000 and pay the artist $1 million. With the rest of the money, he said he would buy plenty of other antique automatons.
The price tag is a rather large increase from the number that was listed next to the bird when Clarkson paid a visit to the store on Oct. 10. The singer inquired about buying the bird, which had a tag saying $15,000, and then took to social media to complain that the owner treated her dismissively — as if assuming she couldn’t afford the bird. The owner countered the price was the cost of somebody ordering a similar bird from the artist, and that Molly wasn’t for sale (indeed, an Instagram post by the store five weeks ago likewise said the bird isn’t for sale).
Given the rather exorbitant new price tag, one might say the bird is still not really for sale. But a few years back, collectors were paying up to tens of millions for now-worthless NFTs, so the value of anything in the collectibles world is arguably whatever somebody is willing to pay.
The Brooklyn curiosity shop owners say they’ve received a large increase in foot traffic due to the publicity, but also a flood of backlash from Clarkson fans, including threatening messages. “We are afraid for the safety of our shopkeepers,” Rubin said. “Kelly Clarkson has put us in danger.”
The update comes on the heels of security footage from Clarkson’s visit to the store being released, showing Clarkson wandering the store for about five minutes, including a rather brief interaction with a shop employee.
Afterwards, Clarkson posted, “Just drove all the way to Brooklyn to check out this store I thought looked really rad and had a few things in mind to buy and literally was looked at as if I couldn’t afford it and was told he could find something comparable for me. Wow, dude. You’re an idiot and just lost a huge sale. But y’all should go check out Art of Play in Brooklyn if you enjoy being treated like Julia Roberts character in Pretty Woman. For sure, check it out 👎”
Clarkson later disputed the co-owner’s account that he said it wasn’t for sale. “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.’ That all never happened and now it’s not for sale. Okay, cool. So you’re not only rude, you’re also a liar … And by the way, I obviously support small businesses because I was literally at a small business trying to purchase things.”
In his USA Today interview, Rubin countered, “Nothing happened in this shop to justify her scolding our shopkeeper on the way out, but I could let that go. Everybody has a bad day. But things changed when she used her platform to attack us. It’s asymmetrical social warfare.”