The New York City art store Kelly Clarkson recently slammed for giving her the “Pretty Woman” treatment has released another statement after the singer doubled down on her initial remarks.
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In a Monday (Oct. 12) post on Instagram, Art of Play in Brooklyn, N.Y., wrote, “We’d like to clarify some additional details about Kelly Clarkson’s visit to our Curiosity Shop on Saturday.”
“During the 5 minutes she spent in the store, she inquired about our mechanical bird puppet named Molly,” it continued. “We explained that while Molly is permanently attached to the wall and serves as a de facto mascot for our shop, a nearly identical automaton is owned by the creator of the machines, a brilliant artist named Bliss Kolb who lives in Seattle. He told us he would be willing to part with Molly’s twin for $15,000. We explained all of this to Kelly Clarkson.”
The store also claimed to have “offered to show her a different singing bird automaton, made by a traditional clockmaking shop in Germany, that she could have taken home with her that day,” which cost $2,000, and Clarkson allegedly “did not stick around long enough” to see.
“We’ve reached out to Kelly directly to try and clear the air,” the statement added. “We really do wish her the best and hope that someday we can all laugh about this misunderstanding.”
The Grammy winner’s online feud with Art of Play has caused quite a stir on the internet over the past few days. It all started when Clarkson wrote on X Oct. 10 that an employee had “looked” at her “as if I couldn’t afford it and was told he could find something comparable for me.”
“Wow, dude,” she added at the time. “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.”
The shop soon replied with its own version of events, claiming that “Molly” — the automated bird Clarkson had seemingly sought to purchase — “is permanently attached to the wall and isn’t for sale.” The vocalist then doubled down on her side of the story, sharing a photo she’d taken showing a $15,000 price tag next to the Molly wall display and writing, “So you’re not only rude, you’re also a liar. Got it.”
Read Art of Play’s most recent statement below.