Newly released security footage captures Kelly Clarkson inside Brooklyn’s Art of Play store during the encounter that later sparked an online firestorm.
The singer, 44, enters the curiosity shop in the video – obtained by Pablo Torre – and inquires about a $15,000 mechanical bird named Molly, which the store insists was never for sale.
The footage has no audio and shows Clarkson entering in a gray baseball cap, yellow T-shirt, baggy blue jeans and backpack before looking around the store.
She eventually walks over to a mechanical bird and appears to speak with a shopkeeper she later called an “idiot” in an online post.
The shopkeeper appears to gesture toward something before the pair walk away in opposite directions. Moments later, he points at another item while glancing back at Clarkson, who has turned away.
Clarkson then places an item she had apparently been considering back on the shelf. She appears to complain about the shopkeeper to a busy cashier before exiting the store.
Newly surfaced security footage shows 44-year-old Kelly Clarkson visiting Art of Play in Brooklyn and captures the interaction that later escalated into an online feud
Adam Rubin, the Brooklyn storeowner at the center of the dispute, said Clarkson made a parting remark as she left, allegedly shouting at staff and vowing never to return before taking her complaints online.
Rubin, 43, told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that he should have been recovering from skin-cancer removal surgery. Instead, he said, he rushed to his Art of Play store to manage the fallout from the singer’s weekend outburst.
The dispute began Saturday when Clarkson criticized the art and magic shop on social media. She claimed staff assumed she “couldn’t afford” Molly, the mechanical bird displayed prominently behind the cashier.
The store maintains that Molly was never available for purchase.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Rubin has now offered more details about the bitter exchange.
He also said Clarkson’s criticism had brought unwanted attention to the store and made it a target for some of her fans.
“None of us are supposed to be here today, especially me. I had cancer removed from my face last week, and I’m getting the stitches removed tonight,” Rubin said.
“But we are afraid for the safety of our shopkeepers.”
The video, obtained by Pablo Torre, shows Clarkson visiting the curiosity shop and asking about Molly, a mechanical bird valued at $15,000
At the end of the clip, Clarkson appears to share her complaints about the shopkeeper with a busy cashier before leaving
Businessman Adam Rubin, owner of Brooklyn curiosity shop Art of Play, said singer Kelly Clarkson criticized the store after staff declined to sell Molly, a $15,000 ornamental bird seen mounted behind him
Rubin, who has been receiving treatment for skin cancer, said the controversy sparked by Clarkson had placed his staff at risk
Clarkson, 44, reacted angrily on X on Saturday after a staff member at the curiosity shop declined to sell Molly, a mechanical bird ornament displayed on one of the store’s walls.
The American Idol winner likened her treatment to that of Vivian Ward, the fictional prostitute played by Julia Roberts in 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman, who was kicked out of a designer clothing store in Beverly Hills over her risqué attire.
Clarkson wrote: ‘Just 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’t afford it and was told he could find something comparable for me.
‘Wow, dude. You’re an idiot and just lost a huge sale. But y’all should go check out Art of Play in Brooklyn if you enjoy being treated like Julia Roberts’ character in Pretty Woman.’
A $15,000 price tag has long sat beside Molly on the wall of the store.
Supporters of Clarkson said seeing such a tag on an item she was then told she could not buy may have been the source of the star’s anger.
Art of Play previously said that price tag was for an identical ornament that is not on display.
On Tuesday, Rubin continued to maintain that Molly was not for sale, despite the price tag, which has been updated in the wake of the scandal to call the mechanical creature ‘the world’s most famous singing bird automata!’
Clarkson took to X on Saturday to complain her treatment at Art of Play had left her feeling like Vivian Ward, the prostitute played by Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman
In one iconic scene from the 1990 romcom Roberts (pictured in character) is ejected from an upscale Beverly Hills boutique over her risqué attire
Molly is seen on display at Art of Play on Tuesday. Confusingly, a $15,000 price tag has long been affixed to the wall next to her
That price tag has since been updated to reflect Molly’s newfound fame. Art of Play staff insisted Molly was not for sale despite the price tag and said they’d have been happy to direct Clarkson to the artist behind the ornament should she wish to commission her own
Art of Play previously insisted they’d have been happy to direct Clarkson to Molly’s Seattle-based creator Bliss Kolb if she wished to commission a similar ornament.
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Rubin told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that he blames Clarkson for the chaos that has engulfed his business since and said the talk show host knew exactly what she was doing when she put him ‘on blast.’
‘Kelly Clarkson has put us in danger,’ Rubin said. ‘We have gotten threatening phone calls, threatening text messages.
‘We’ve been review-bombed. We’re getting harassed on social media.
‘People are showing up and screaming outside of the shop. Our neighbors are getting doxed.
‘Somebody posted something in support of us online and they’re getting attacked by trolls.
‘We had no idea this could happen, but here’s the thing: Kelly Clarkson did, and she chose to do it anyway.’
Rubin suggested Clarkson’s behavior smacked of entitlement and that she had turned an ‘enormous misunderstanding’ into a ‘reprehensible abuse of power’ with her social media flameout.
Art of Play sits in Brooklyn and has been backed by locals who love the store and its staff
‘When you have the platform, fame, money, and power that she has, you can’t just try to squash somebody like a bug and expect everybody to give you a pass,’ Rubin added.
The store owner, who also writes children’s books, went on to accuse Clarkson of showing a flash of diva-like behavior as she exited his store at the weekend.
He said she ‘yelled at the shopkeeper on her way out the door.’
‘As she was leaving, she said, “You know, I’m never coming here again.”,’ he went on.
Locals have rushed to back Rubin in the wake of the storm, with multiple Brooklyn-ites telling the Daily Mail on Monday that they stood firmly behind him and his business.
One said, who asked not to be named, said: ‘I mean, it actually could not have happened to nicer people. I’ve been coming here for years. I’m friends with the owners.
‘The whole thing is ridiculous, and for a celebrity to weaponize her platform of 8 million people on Instagram, 8 million on Twitter, to a tiny, little, independently owned store, owned and run by magicians.’
Clarkson posted this rant to X on Saturday afternoon, with Art of Play quickly engulfed by criticism as a result
Art of Play later took to Instagram to condemn Clarkson and insist that Molly was not for sale
An irate Clarkson responded to Art of Play, insisting that she was right to be annoyed and maintaining that she is a staunch supporter of small businesses
Online sleuths quickly spotted the price tag next to Molly – and questioned whether Clarkson’s anger had actually been justified
Rubin said his staff are ‘rattled,’ but also bemused that Molly has become the unexpected star of Clarkson’s online meltdown.
The bird is usually the centerpiece of magic theatre shows laid on by the store.
He joked that Molly’s value has increased one-thousand-fold in the wake of Clarkson’s meltdown.
‘She is currently, and probably for the rest of time, the most famous automaton in the world.
‘I think what we would do is…maybe if somebody buys her for $15 million, we’ll give $15,000 to all the shopkeepers.
‘Give Bliss a million dollars. Build a little case. Buy some old antique automaton.
‘You can do a lot of you can do a lot with $15m.
‘Kelly Clarkson would know.’
Clarkson shot to stardom after winning the first season of American Idol in 2002.
She enjoyed a successful singing career, with hits including Miss Independent and Since U Been Gone.
She launched a successful talk show on NBC in 2019, with The Kelly Clarkson Show ending in August 2026, so she could spend more time with her family.
Clarkson was married to talent manager Brandon Blackstock between 2013 and 2022.
Blackstock, who was the father of Clarkson’s children, died of skin cancer aged just 48 in August 2025.
The Daily Mail has contacted a representative of Kelly Clarkson for comment.