Security footage of Kelly Clarkson visiting Brooklyn curiosity shop Art of Play has been released amid a dispute over a $15,000 mechanical singing bird named Molly.
The footage, obtained by Pablo Torres, shows the singer entering the shop and looking at various items before approaching Molly, which was displayed on a wall.
Clarkson is then seen speaking to an employee and pointing towards the bird. The recording has no audio, meaning it does not establish what was said during the exchange.
About five minutes after arriving, she appears to gesture while speaking to a worker near the entrance before leaving the shop.
Clarkson made the dispute public over the weekend, alleging that she had visited Art of Play intending to buy several items but felt an employee had assumed she could not afford them. She compared the experience to Julia Roberts being rejected in the film Pretty Woman and said the shop had lost a major sale.
Art of Play initially said Molly was a unique singing and dancing automaton fixed permanently to the wall and was not for sale. Clarkson disputed that account, alleging that an employee had pointed out a $15,000 price tag before offering to find a similar item.
The shop later said the price referred to a nearly identical bird owned by Seattle artist Bliss Kolb. It also said staff had offered to show Clarkson another singing bird priced at about $2,000, but that she left before seeing it.
The newly released security footage documents the visit visually but cannot resolve the disagreement over the conversation’s tone or precisely what took place between Clarkson and the employee.
The dispute has prompted widespread online debate, with supporters of both sides weighing in and the small business facing public scrutiny over the competing accounts.
