Silent video of Kelly Clarkson’s Brooklyn shop visit is released

Security footage of Kelly Clarkson's disputed visit to a Brooklyn novelty shop was posted to YouTube on the night of Oct. 13.

Investigative podcaster Pablo Torre said he had acquired the video from Art of Play, the Brooklyn, N.Y. store at the centre of the row, and published it on Tuesday night Billboard. The release came days after Clarkson publicly criticised the shop on Saturday.

The video has no sound. It shows Clarkson entering the shop, browsing the shelves and then flagging down a sales associate while pointing at Molly, an animatronic bird that sings and dances.

Clarkson is dressed casually in the clip. She wears a baseball hat, bright yellow T-shirt, baggy jeans and a backpack Variety.

Later in the footage, she puts items she had picked out back on the shelves. She then speaks with a different employee at the cash register before leaving. Without audio, what was said in either exchange is not clear from the video itself.

The argument is about Molly. Clarkson had asked about buying the bird. On social media, she alleged she was treated like Julia Roberts' character in Pretty Woman, the 1990 film in which a shop assistant refuses to serve Roberts because of how she looks.

Art of Play has said Molly is not for sale. The store described the bird as permanently attached to the wall and a de facto mascot for the shop.

The store said it offered Clarkson two alternatives. One was a nearly identical automaton owned by creator Bliss Kolb in Seattle, described as Molly's twin, for $15,000. The other was a different singing bird automaton made by a German clockmaking shop for $2,000, which she could have taken home that day.

What makes this stand out is how much now rests on a silent clip. Fans have the visit on video, the prices named by the shop, and Clarkson's account of how it felt. The words in the middle are still missing.