The 1 Part of Clarkson’s Response That Didn’t Help Her at All

Scott Stump Wed, October 14, 2026 at 4:07 PM UTC

0

(NBC)A disgruntled Kelly Clarkson, a curiosity shop in Brooklyn and an animatronic bird named Molly have collided to create a drama that has divided the internet.

A disgruntled Kelly Clarkson, a curiosity shop in Brooklyn and an animatronic bird named Molly have collided to create a drama that has divided the internet.

Complaints posted on X by the Grammy-winning singer have been countered by the store’s version of events when it comes to whether a $15,000 mechanical bird puppet was for sale when Clarkson visited recently.

Clarkson and a store named Art of Play each posted twice in a back-and-forth about what they believe happened, leaving everyone else to decide which side was in the right.

The situation deepened when the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast released surveillance video footage on Oct. 13 of Clarkson’s visit to the store. At the same time, Art of Play co-owner Adam Rubin spoke with reporters outside the store, saying the owners “are afraid for the safety of our shopkeepers,” in a video published by USA Today. “Kelly Clarkson has put us in danger.”

Clarkson is a host on “The Voice” and the former host of “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” both of which aired on NBC. NBC is a division of NBCUniversal, which is also the parent company of TODAY.

TODAY.com spoke with Evan Nierman, CEO of Manhattan-based crisis PR firm Red Banyan, about how the situation could’ve been avoided and whether there is a winner or loser in all of this.

Here’s how a public relations professional looks at it.

Remarks by the Store’s Co-Owner Included Some ‘Colossal Errors’

Art of Play co-owner Adam Rubin spoke to a gaggle of reporters outside the shop on Oct. 13, making comments Nierman found alternately smart and inflammatory.

Rubin told reporters that Clarkson’s comments have threatened the safety of his employees in a video published by USA Today. He added that the store has received a barrage of hate and threatening messages, with people showing up in person and doxxing and review-bombing its neighbors.

“That part was good,” Nierman said. “I liked that. He’s doing what he feels he needs to do to defend his employees and their safety. He was putting the ball in (Clarkson’s) court. By him doing a presser outside of the store and talking about the threats, he’s putting her on the defensive now. He’s talking about the real-life consequences that can come from an online dispute.”

However, Rubin also said Clarkson’s comments have created “asymmetrical warfare” with her followers and “thrown a Molotov cocktail” into the store’s business. He told USA Today that the price tag of the $15,000 bird in the middle of the dispute is now $15 million.

“They keep making some of the right moves and then making colossal errors,” Nierman said about the price tag comment. “That’s an inflammatory clapback. That’s basically saying, ‘No matter what, we will never sell you this.’ Both sides are trying to be right and have the last word, and everybody is losing as a consequence.”

The comment about the price of the bird came in the same interview where Rubin invited Clarkson to visit the store and take in a magic show.

“We want her to come to the store, but the bird is $15 million now,’” Nierman said. “They can’t have it both ways. They have been thrust into the competing roles of victim and aggressor. Now more than ever, they need a way to resolve this situation in the best interest of everybody.”

The Surveillance Video Adds ‘Nothing’ to the Discussion

On the night of Oct. 13, the investigative podcast “Pablo Torre Finds Out” released surveillance footage it obtained from Clarkson’s visit to Art of Play on Oct. 10.

The video, which does not have audio, shows the singer dressed casually in a hat walking into the Art of Play shop and speaking with a store employee before leaving empty-handed. The entire encounter took less than five minutes, based on the video.

“I don’t think it adds anything to the discussion or the debate,” Nierman told TODAY.com on Oct. 14. “There’s no audio. It provides no added value other than verifying she was in the store, which was never in question. I don’t see how releasing that video changed anything.”

How Does This End?

Nierman believes Clarkson is the one who could bring the drama to a halt and rein in her followers.

“I think that she should because it’s very easy for her to come out and tell people to stand down and say that’s not OK,” he said. “She can turn the temperature down. She’s got the biggest megaphone if she chooses to do that. I think it would be a good pr move for her to call on her followers and fans to conduct themselves appropriately and not to threaten or try to intimidate or harm the store even more. It’s time to squash this beef.”

Advertisement

With the reputation of both sides taking a hit the longer this drags on, Nierman believes they need to be focused on the right thing.

“The two sides are each out for justice when they should be looking for resolution,” he said. “And that’s at the crux of so many intractable conflicts. Somebody wants to be right, when in it’s in everyone’s best interest to resolve it.”

The Store’s Response to Clarkson’s Initial Post Was Too ‘Snarky’

The conflict began when Clarkson posted on X on Oct. 10 that she was shopping at Art of Play in Brooklyn, asked about an item and was “looked at as if I couldn’t afford it and was told he could find something comparable for me.”

She compared her experience to Julia Roberts’ character in “Pretty Woman,” who is dismissed by a condescending saleswoman while shopping at a Beverly Hills boutique because she is dressed casually.

Art of Play answered in an Instagram post on Oct. 11 in which it said the animatronic bird named Molly was not for sale, but the artist who created it had a “twin” that he would be willing to sell to Clarkson for $15,000.

Nierman said the store’s initial response was on the right track before derailing at the end.

The 1 Part of Clarkson’s Initial Response That Didn’t Help Her at All

Following Art of Play’s Instagram post, Clarkson responded with a second post on X saying that the store’s claim that the animatronic bird named Molly was not for sale was a lie.

Clarkson wrote that she was told it was for sale for $15,000 and a salesperson implied she didn’t have the money and suggested a “comparable” item, which Art of Play disputed in its response.

The singer attached an out-of-focus photo of the bird that she claimed showed it had a price tag on it, which obviously made it for sale.

“When she attached a blurry, unreadable image of what was purported to be a price tag, I don’t think it helped her at all,” Nierman said. “It was not her picture, it was taken somewhere else. I don’t think you can point to that with any confidence that she had a smoking gun of evidence. If she had photographed it herself while she was at the store, that would have been a completely different discussion.”

What the Store Could’ve Done to Avoid the Situation

Nierman saw a simple way to avoid the whole confrontation altogether: Just sell Clarkson the animatronic bird.

“I think the store went a little overboard in trying to emphasize that Molly couldn’t be bought by anyone, which was a misstep,” he said. “If you have a customer who’s willing to pay an exorbitant amount of money, and you know there’s a twin out there, sell the person the mechanical bird, get the twin and mount that one. They missed a huge opportunity to just make a customer happy, and that’s not the person you want to piss off.”

Is There a Winner and a Loser in All This?

Both sides are sticking to their story, so there may never be a resolution.

“No side has a monopoly on the truth when they’re so entrenched in their position,” he said. “The only people who really know what happened are Kelly, the sales associate and Molly the mechanical bird, and I don’t think we’re going to get a clear answer from Molly.”

There also doesn’t appear to be a clear winner in all the drama.

“I don’t think either side comes off smelling of roses from this dispute, but at the same time neither is going to suffer irreparable harm,” Nierman said. “Clarkson is rich, famous, and beloved by legions of fans who will have her back no matter what and will come to her defense.

“The store likely has its own customer base, which is not comprised chiefly of Kelly Clarkson’s X followers, so I suspect they will be fine. It’s even possible the store will end up garnering extra support from MVP customers or people in the neighborhood who thought the store was treated unfairly.”

One thing is for sure, Nierman says: The two will forever be linked together.

“This encounter is going to define the reputation of Art of Play forever because we live in the age of the internet and online search,” he said. “You ask your favorite LLM in the future about Art of Play, and this will come up. There is no scrubbing of the internet, there is no taking down of all the mentions of this. It would be an impossibility because it’s been covered so much by high-credibility websites.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”