Kelly Clarkson Fires Back At Brooklyn Curiosity Shop

Kelly Clarkson has a reputation for being one of the post pleasant, fun, generally normal pop stars out there, which is a big part of the reason she was able to transition into her role as a daytime talk-show host so easily. But since she finished up her run with The Kelly Clarkson Show last month, things have gotten a little weird with Clarkson. First, she made a slightly confusing statement about how AI music is great but "AI artists" should have to compete on different Billboard charts. Now, she's locked in a bitter and seemingly one-sided feud with a Brooklyn curiosity shop.

Over the weekend, Kelly Clarkson ventured out to Brooklyn to visit Art Of Play, a store that sells "playing cards, puzzles, and amusements." Clarkson was upset at the customer service that she got at that store. On Saturday afternoon, she vented about it on Twitter. Clarkson hasn't had an angry online moment like that in years , and celebrities of her stature have generally learned that it's not a great look to lash out publicly when they're mad about something, especially when the thing that they're mad about is a small business. Here's what Clarkson wrote in her tweet, which feels like a real throwback to a bygone social-media era:

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 ?

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…

Based on the tone of her post and especially the Pretty Woman reference, I fully assumed Art Of Play was a snobby high-end fashion retailer, not a place that sells games and novelties. As you might expect, many of Clarkson's fans went into attack mode, blasting the store online. On Sunday afternoon, the store's Instagram page responded, giving their account of the interaction and the "surreal experience" of being "suddenly attacked by 8 million people who have never visited our store."

According to the people at Art Of Play, Clarkson "inquired about buying 'Molly,' a one-of-a-kind singing and dancing bird automaton who plays an important role in the magic shows we host here." In their post, the Art Of Play people empathized with Clarkson's frustration but explained that their robot bird "is permanently attached to the wall and isn’t for sale." They ended their post, with a Clarkson reference , writing, "As a talented popular singer once said 'what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.'"

Clarkson did not come off well in this interaction, and she doubled down on it. On Sunday night, Clarkson once again tweeted about the experience, claiming that the bird did, in fact, have a price tag. Clarkson wrote that the Art Of Play employee who she spoke to is "not only rude, you’re also a liar." In her version of the events, "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.'" She also insists that she does support small businesses but that "you don’t get a free pass to treat people less than in your store just because you are a small business." She included a grainy photo of what appears to be a $15,000 price tag on the automated bird.

Cool, cool. Sure, it wasn’t for sale. That’s the narrative Art of Play is gonna go with ? 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… pic.twitter.com/9PEhUWnIOt

Also on Sunday night, the Art Of Play Instagram account with some more details about Clarkson's visit, claiming that Clarkson was only in the store for about five minutes and that they told her about an identical automated bird toy that she could buy, for the same price, from the Seattle artist who made the original. They also said that they "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."

In the time since this online altercation, a few other people have posted photos from the store. In one, which was supposedly taken "a few weeks ago," the automated bird did not have a price tag.

Here’s a picture of someone that was there recently and they stated there was no price tag and they made it clear it wasn’t for sale. The 2024 photos that Kelly Clarkson shared from googled the date was conveniently cropped out. Shady shady. https://t.co/CM2ACni6Ud

Another claimed that Clarkson got her photo of the price tag from a two-year-old Google Maps post.

$15k for an item worth $12k if she had been calm enough to accept that the one they had was not for sale and priced that way so that it wouldn't, but has a listed price for insurance purposes perhaps? I know way too much about this story and not enough about the epstein files. :(

i hate gay halloween what do you mean you’re kelly clarkson and molly, a one-of-a-kind singing and dancing bird automaton who plays an important role in the magic shows at art of play that’s permanently attached to the wall and isn't for sale?

Every new detail of this story makes Clarkson look pettier and weirder, no matter how weird the salesperson might've been in the original interaction. We'd all like to think that we'd do better in this scenario, but I guess most of us have never been informed that we're not allowed to buy an automated bird toy for $15,000.

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