'A surreal experience:' Kelly Clarkson says a Brooklyn clerk sized her up over a $15K bird. The store says it wasn’t for sale — despite a price tag

The retailer, however, says the item Clarkson inquired about was not for sale and offered its own version of events.

“During the 5 minutes she spent in the store, she inquired about our mechanical bird puppet named Molly,” the store wrote on social media. “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. We also 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. It costs about $2,000. She did not stick around long enough to see it.”

(Moneywise reached out to the store for additional comment, but did not immediately receive a reply.)

Clarkson quickly fired back, accusing the store of lying and defending herself against critics who accused her of leveraging her celebrity to harm a small business.

“I obviously support small businesses because I was literally at a small business trying to purchase things,” she wrote. “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. It’s not that hard to be kind. I never blast people but you my friend were an exception. Your store is really cool. Unfortunately, you aren’t.”

The impact of a Tweet

Clarkson’s social media post certainly had an impact on the business, which wrote it was “attacked by 8 million people who have never visited our store” and “It’s been a surreal experience to be the focus of such widespread outrage after just one mention by a celebrity.”

The store’s page on Yelp is filled with reviews from Clarkson supporters, giving it one or two stars, and people taking the retailer’s side, giving it five-star reviews.

The store’s Google reviews have also been bombarded by both camps.

Celebs versus small businesses

Clarkson’s feud with Art of Play is hardly the first time a celebrity has taken to social media to air their grievances with a small or local business. In 2019, singer Lizzo accused a Postmates driver of stealing her food, posting a picture of the woman and her name. Fans immediately responded with threats to the driver. Lizzo deleted her message the next day and apologized, but the driver sued her for libel and invasion of privacy.

Two years later, Demi Lovato publicly criticized The Bigg Chill, a family-owned frozen yogurt shop in Los Angeles, writing “Finding it extremely hard to order froyo from @thebiggchillofficial when you have to walk past tons of sugar free cookies/other diet foods before you get to the counter. Do better please.” She noted that, having publicly dealt with eating disorders herself, said she would call out harmful company and brand messaging that perpetuates “a society that not only enables but praises disordered eating.”

The store reached out to Lovato to explain their side and apologize, but that was rejected and the social blasting continued. Public opinion eventually turned against the singer and she apologized, writing “my intentions were not to come in and bully a small business.”