Singer and television host Kelly Clarkson and Brooklyn-based curiosity shop, Art of Play, have become the center of a viral social media controversy stemming from a disputed interaction involving a $15,000 animatronic bird display.<\/p>\n
The dispute began Oct. 10 when Clarkson posted on X saying: \u201cJust 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\u2019t afford it and was told he could find something comparable for me. Wow, dude. You\u2019re an idiot and just lost a huge sale. But y\u2019all should go check out Art of Play in Brooklyn if you enjoy being treated like a Julia Roberts character in Pretty Woman. For sure, check it out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The story has flooded the media, with Clarkson\u2019s post receiving more than 46 million views. Given Clarkson\u2019s reference to the 1990 film \u201cPretty Woman,\u201d in which actress Julia Roberts\u2019 character is judged based on her appearance and perceived financial status, the story has gained notoriety and caused confusion among the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The item in question is a wooden animatronic bird, named \u201cMolly,\u201d that is mounted to the wall at the store. A $15,000 price tag is displayed beneath the bird. Clarkson claimed she was interested in the bird and later alleged that a store associate suggested a comparable $2,000 item instead. Art of Play has since stated that Molly is not for sale and that the $15,000 price tag belonged to a similar \u201ctwin\u201d bird that was available for purchase but was not located in the store. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Both parties have shared their versions of events online and in news interviews. Clarkson has maintained that she was unfairly judged and mistreated, while Art of Play has continued to characterize the situation as a misunderstanding. As additional details have been released by Art of Play, some social media users have questioned the credibility of its explanations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Security footage from inside the store has since been released. While the footage does not contain audio, it shows Clarkson speaking with a store associate while looking at the animatronic bird. Clarkson is dressed casually, similar to other patrons visible in the store. \u00a0<\/p>\n
After their interaction, Clarkson then appears to place the items she had selected back on the shelves and briefly speaks to another employee and leaves the store.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a following development, Art of Play has placed a $15 million price on Molly itself, citing \u201cpopular demand.\u201d Owner Adam Rubin said the store would sell the animatronic bird at that price.<\/p>\n
There is no definitive resolution to the dispute. Art of Play says it has reached out to Clarkson in an effort to remedy the misunderstanding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The situation has sparked broader conversations about customer service, assumptions based on appearance, and the influence celebrities have when sharing experiences with millions of followers online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Singer and television host Kelly Clarkson and Brooklyn-based curiosity shop, Art of Play, have become the center of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-377717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}