TMZ's Harvey Levin says Kelly Clarkson is "so wrong" for trying to "annihilate" the art store because all they were trying to do was make a sale
TMZ's Harvey Levin says Kelly Clarkson is "so wrong" for trying to "annihilate" the art store because all they were trying to do was make a sale
Pallavi K Thu, October 15, 2026 at 10:26 AM UTC
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Kelly Clarkson - 2024 Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting Ceremony ©GettyTV producer, legal analyst, and TMZ founder Harvey Levin is accusing singer-songwriter Kelly Clarkson of being “so wrong” about the Brooklyn novelty shop, Art of Play, that reportedly refused to sell her a singing-dancing mechanical bird. Clarkson, 44, claimed she was “looked at as if I couldn't afford” the bird, which was priced at $15,000.
TV producer, legal analyst, and TMZ founder Harvey Levin is accusing singer-songwriter Kelly Clarkson of being “so wrong” about the Brooklyn novelty shop, Art of Play, that reportedly refused to sell her a singing-dancing mechanical bird. Clarkson, 44, claimed she was “looked at as if I couldn't afford” the bird, which was priced at $15,000.
“Kelly Clarkson is so wrong about what she has done to this art store, and I can tell you this as a guy who worked in his father’s liquor store; these people were being good salesmen. Let me explain. She is watching this store and eventually sees this bird worth $15,000. That my friend is a display bird; it’s not a bird that’s for sale,” Levin noted.
He continued to state:
“And she goes, ‘I want that bird.’ And they have the audacity to say, ‘Maybe you’d want this $2,000 bird instead. And she gets all up in her feelings and is like, ‘How dare you be this rude to me? I can afford this. You don’t know who I am,’ which is essentially what she’s saying because she’s dressed like everybody else.”
Harvey Levin defended the store and claimed it wasn’t like they directly told her she couldn’t afford to buy the bird, but rather directed her to the $2,000 bird, which was ready for sale. The journalist explained that if Kelly Clarkson were to buy the $15,000 bird, it would have “taken days to get it” because the artist would have had to “make a new one.”
“They weren't going to sell the display. Have you ever heard of an impulsive buy? And this store, like any store, knows that when somebody walks in to buy something that's really, really expensive and, uh, they don't have it immediately, and you're going to have to wait a few days that it is more than likely that they might call up the next day and say, you know, I don't really want to buy that one, so let's just cancel the order,” Levin stated.
The TMZ founder claimed that the $2,000 bird was not “on order” like the $15,000 bird, and the novelty shop was trying to sell “right on the spot.” There was nothing “rude” about it. Instead, it was “good salesmanship.”
Exploring Harvey Levin’s remarks further amid Kelly Clarkson art store row
Over the weekend, Kelly Clarkson wrote online that Art of Play refused to sell her the $15,000 mechanical bird that was on display.
“Y'all should go check out Art of Play in Brooklyn if you enjoy being treated like Julia Roberts' character in Pretty Woman,” Clarkson wrote.
In a subsequent post, the Since U Been Gone artist claimed that a store employee told her the hefty price of the bird before suggesting they could find her something “comparable.”
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Kelly Clarkson’s online complaint sparked a controversy and prompted a response from Art of Play. The store claimed that the wooden bird named Molly is permanently fixed on the wall and was not for sale. Additionally, their staff told the singer during her five-minute visit on October 10 that she could buy an identical bird for $15,000.
The boutique store also said that they offered her a different singing-dancing bird worth $2,000 from Germany, but she declined.
“Imagine our surprise when our small local business was suddenly attacked by eight million people who have never visited our store. It's been a surreal experience to be the focus of such widespread outrage after just one mention by a celebrity,” Art of Play wrote on social media.
Kelly Clarkson stood by her decision and replied:
“I never blast people, but you, my friend, were an exception.”
According to the BBC, Molly is still on display with an increased price tag of $15 million and a sign reading, “world's most famous singing bird automata!”
While customers and reporters visited the store, reports that it was vandalized also surfaced in the news. TMZ’s Harvey Levin called out Kelly Clarkson.
“And this store is getting torched because Kelly Clarkson has made this cause célèbre. And I mean that in various ways. Uh, to annihilate this store. And all they were doing was trying to make a sale. If they could have made a $15,000 sale, what do you think they're going to say? Oh, we don't want to make a $15,000 sale. We'd rather make a $2,000 sale. That makes no sense.”
“They weren't trying to say, ‘Look, you don't deserve a $15,000 bird.’ They were trying to make a sale. And a $2,000 sale is better than no sale at all,” Levin added.
A spokesperson for the store told CBS News that the employees faced threats and harassment in the wake of Clarkson’s social media posts.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
