Kelly Clarkson Art of Play: What Happened, Footage, Timeline

Kelly Clarkson spent about five minutes inside a Brooklyn shop on Saturday. The security video of those five minutes, released Tuesday, has no sound.

TMZ published the footage on Oct. 13, saying it was obtained by Pablo Torre. It shows Clarkson walking into Art of Play, picking up items and then approaching a mechanical singing bird called Molly. She talks to an employee and points at the bird. About five minutes after she entered, she is seen waving her hands as she talks to a worker at the entrance, then leaves. TMZ noted that the video cannot settle who said what.

That is the dispute. Here is how it got there.

Saturday, Oct. 10. Clarkson posted on X that she had driven to Brooklyn to buy several things and felt an employee looked at her as if she could not afford them. She compared the visit to the shopping scene in Pretty Woman and told followers to visit if they enjoyed being treated like Julia Roberts' character.

Sunday, Oct. 11. Art of Play, a shop on Atlantic Avenue near Brooklyn Bridge Park that also runs a 26-seat magic theater, said in an Instagram statement that Clarkson had asked about Molly, a one-of-a-kind singing and dancing bird used in its magic shows. Molly, it said, is permanently attached to the wall and is not for sale. Clarkson answered that evening. She said she had pointed to a tag labeled "Singing Bird" and was told it cost $15,000, and she called the store's account a lie. She also posted a grainy photo that appears to show a tag hanging near the bird.

Monday, Oct. 12. The store issued a second statement. It said it told Clarkson that a Seattle artist, Bliss Kolb, owns a nearly identical bird and would sell it for $15,000, and that staff offered to show her a different singing bird, made by a German clockmaking company, for about $2,000. According to the store, she left before seeing it.

Tuesday, Oct. 13. Co-owner Adam Rubin told TMZ the past 72 hours had been stressful. He said staff are receiving threats and that most of the people attacking the shop have never been inside. He invited Clarkson to a 21-and-over magic show at the store. Art of Play has said it contacted her directly to clear the air.

What is confirmed: the visit, Clarkson's posts, the store's two statements and the footage. What is not: what was said at the counter. What the $15,000 price referred to, Molly or the Seattle bird, is the center of the disagreement, and nothing released so far resolves it.

Online, the reaction has split. Some argued a celebrity should not name a small business over a shopping exchange. Others pointed to apparent discrepancies between the store's first and second statements: the first said Molly was not for sale, the second said a near-identical bird could be had for $15,000.

TMZ's Tuesday report did not include a response from Clarkson's side to the invitation. Art of Play has said it wishes her well and hopes everyone can eventually laugh about it.