Kelly Clarkson saga escalates as Brooklyn shop owner says singer ‘put us in danger’

Kelly Clarkson has been accused by the co-owner of a New York City toy shop of putting its staff in “danger.”

A dispute between the two parties has been rumbling since this weekend, when the 44-year-old “Breakaway” singer shared in an X post to her eight million followers that she had visited Brooklyn games store Art of Play and interacted with a “rude” sales associate in an experience she compared to a famous scene in Pretty Woman.

On Tuesday, Adam Rubin, one of the shop’s three co-owners, answered questions from a scrum of reporters.

According to New York magazine, Rubin described the situation as an “insane misunderstanding.”

He added: “Nothing happened in this shop to justify her scolding our shopkeeper on the way out, but I can let that go. You know, everybody has a bad day. But things changed when she used her platform to attack us. It’s asymmetrical social warfare.”

Rubin said that Clarkson had visited on an occasion when the store was busy, and had been assisted by staff who offered to show her a variety of products. “She was in the shop for less than five minutes,” he said. “If this tweetstorm had not happened, we wouldn’t have realized there was a negative interaction in the shop; it was that undramatic. We treated her like a normal person, but apparently that didn’t live up to her expectations.”

He went on to strongly criticize Clarkson for directing her large social media following at the store, saying: “Kelly Clarkson has put us in danger. People are getting threatened on the street, and the worst part is we didn’t know this was going to happen but Kelly Clarkson did. Anyone who expresses admiration, positivity, or sympathy for Art of Play is getting attacked by trolls.”

Workers did receive the backing of the local community, said Rubin, who added: “People were coming by almost entirely in support. On Monday, when we were closed, people were bringing pastries and cupcakes, according to the press that was staked out here. But our friends are getting attacked, and our fans are getting attacked. We’re concerned on behalf of our shopkeepers.”

Rubin explained that Art of Play has received numerous threatening calls and online comments, saying of the trolls: “They’re calling. They’re emailing. They’re leaving reviews on every platform, they’re review-bombing, they’re attacking anyone who mentions us on social media. They’re shouting, they’re screaming. They show up, they shout, ‘You’re racially profiling Kelly Clarkson!’ This was out on the sidewalk, so neighbors called the police, and when they filmed the neighbors their followers doxxed the neighbors.”

The shop owner added that on Sunday they “turned off the phone” but they continued to receive a stream of negative comments. “There’s so much hate speech, so many threats of violence,” he said. “If an actual customer tries to get in touch with us right now, they will never be able to.”

After the shop earlier posted a statement stating that the wooden bird automaton that Clarkson had been interested in was not for sale, the singer and former talk show host doubled down and responded: “So you’re not only rude, you’re also a liar. Got it.”