The Spotlight US poll: Was Kelly Clarkson wrong to name and shame a store on social media over her ‘Pretty Woman’ moment? Have your say in our new showbiz newsletter
Kelly Clarkson went viral this week after she called out a small toy store in Brooklyn, New York, for treating her ‘like Julia Roberts’s character in Pretty Woman.’
The singer and daytime chat show host, 44, publicly tore into the Art of Play boutique on social media, claiming she was made to feel as though she wasn’t good enough to shop there.
She branded the employee who assisted her ‘a huge idiot’ after they refused to sell her a toy bird mounted on the wall and delivered a withering parting shot: ‘You just lost a huge sale.’
Clarkson claimed her experience mirrored that of Roberts’s character in the 1990s blockbuster, Vivian Ward, who is humiliatingly dismissed from a luxury Beverly Hills retailer by snobbish employees – only to return later with shopping bags from a rival outlet and deliver the now-iconic line: ‘Big mistake. Big. Huge.’
Loyal Art of Play customers have since rallied round to express their disbelief at Clarkson’s experience, praising the store for its welcoming ethos and kind and helpful employees.
In a statement shared to Instagram, the boutique said: ‘Imagine our surprise when our small local business was suddenly attacked by 8 million people who have never visited our store. It’s been a surreal experience to be the focus of such widespread outrage after just one mention by a celebrity.’
What do you think?
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