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chub Buckle up, birdies.
Co-owner of a Brooklyn boutique Kelly Clarkson launched over the weekend is opening up about the experience he and his colleagues have endured since that terrible tweet – and he’s not happy about it! Understandably. But first, the backstory…
Backstory
On Saturday, Kelly went on X (Twitter) to share her knowledge The art of playthe store left a whimsical homeware that she says feels like Julia Roberts in Beautiful Woman.
The American Idol alum wrote:
“I just drove all the way to Brooklyn to check out this store I thought was really radical and had a few things in mind to buy and was literally looked at like I couldn’t afford it and told he could get me something similar. Wow, dude. You’re an idiot and just lost a big sale.
In response, the store took to Instagram to share their side of the story:
“Yesterday, Kelly Clarkson visited us in Brooklyn and asked about purchasing “Molly,” a one-of-a-kind singing and dancing bird automaton that plays an important role in the magic shows we put on here. Molly is permanently attached to the wall and is not for sale.
At Art of Play whether someone comes in to make a purchase or just look around for a while, they are equally welcome. We welcome everyone who walks in the door with the invitation to “pick things up and play.” And they, many stay for hours enjoying our puzzles, games and toys.”
They continued, expressing how “surreal” it has been to “suddenly” be “attacked” by millions of people after Kelly’s outburst:
“Imagine our surprise when our small local business was suddenly attacked by 8 million people who had never visited our store. It’s been an incredible experience to be the center of such outrage after just one mention by a celebrity.”
Thanks to all our friends for their support and welcome to all the curious people we found among the drama. We are going to keep our heads down and hopefully we can clear things up with Kelly someday. As a popular talented singer once said “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger””
Kelly didn’t buy it though (the bird, or the answer), firing back:
“Cool, cool. Yeah, it wasn’t for sale. That’s the Art of Play statement that goes with it so the whole conversation we had when I asked you if it was for sale while pointing to the price hanging on the wall titled Singing Bird didn’t happen while you were looking at the elevator I said in a dismissive tone “yes, it costs 100 dollar for me to find something similar to you that I can.” That never happened and now it’s not for sale. Okay, cool. So not only are you rude, you’re also a liar.
got it
And by the way, I obviously support small business because I was literally at a small business trying to buy things. I love small businesses and I know they are important and I will 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 blow people up but you my friend were an exception.
Your store is very cool.
Unfortunately, you’re not.”
Then they followed up again, clarifying:
“We would like to clarify some additional information about Kelly Clarkson’s visit to our Curiosity Shop on Saturday.
During the 5 minutes she spent in the store, she asked about our mechanical bird puppet named Molly. We explained that although Molly is permanently attached to the wall and serves as a de facto mascot for our store, the creator of the devices, a brilliant artist named Bliss Kolb who lives in Seattle, has an almost identical automaton. He told us he would be willing to part with Molly’s twins for $15,000. We explained all this to Kelly Clarkson.
We also offered to show her a different singing bird automaton, made by a traditional clock making shop in Germany, that she could take home with her that day. It costs about $2,000. She didn’t stick around long enough to see her.
We’ve reached out to Kelly directly to try to clear the air. We really wish her the best and hope we can all laugh about this misunderstanding one day.”
Current development
Now, on Tuesday, co-owner Adam Rubin he opened up to reporters about the whirlwind whiplash they’ve been feeling ever since.
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When a reporter Mary-Lyn Buckley interview him, he said:
“We bear no ill will against Kelly Clarkson. We invite her to come back and enjoy the store.
Take care of yourself:
Hi @kellyclarkson I spoke with Art Of Play co-owner Adam Rubin who wants to send you this message in part “We have no ill will against Kelly Clarkson, we invite her to come back and enjoy the store. pic.twitter.com/J8rIbDSH5H
— Mary-Lyn Buckley (@Ml_buckley1010) October 13, 2026
As you can see, this is a very bad situation for Adam and his staff.
In a new report from curved from New York magazinehe says:
“Kelly Clarkson has put us in danger. People are in danger on the street, and the worst part of it is that we didn’t know this was going to happen but Kelly Clarkson did.”
When asked to analyze the negative impact they are facing, he explains:
“They’re calling. They’re sending emails. They’re leaving reviews on every platform, they’re bombarding reviews, they’re attacking anyone who mentions us on social media. They’re yelling, they’re screaming. This was out on the sidewalk, so the neighbors called the police, and when they filmed the neighbors did the doxx followers on the neighbors”
He says that throughout the day as they call customers they see new comments coming in on their sales chart, messages full of hate and violence:
“There is so much hate speech, so many threats of violence.”
As for Kelly’s experience, he is convinced it was a “crazy misunderstanding” and says:
“Nothing happened in this store to justify her taunting our shopkeeper on the way out, but I can let that go. You know, everyone has a bad day. But things changed when she used her platform to attack us. It’s an asymmetric social war.”
Click here to read more, including his explanation of why they don’t have their own “Molly the bird” for sale.
Obviously, no matter which side you take, no one should be sending hate speech or threats. No one should be doxing anyone. And no one should be flooding their phone lines and review pages. That’s just s**tty behavior and it does nothing but make things worse for everyone. If you want to pick Kelly up, stream her music some more. Don’t be a troll.
[Image via YouTube/Kelly Clarkson Show.]
