The only winner in the Kelly Clarkson bird drama and ‘Girls’ reboot is Brooklyn

Is Brooklyn’s PR rep behind the feud between Kelly Clarkson and a toy store, and maybe the “Girls” revival announced on Tuesday?

The New York borough — a part of the city now better known for its gentrified neighborhoods — has been thrust into the center of two cultural firestorms this week. While the internet picks at every scrap of information about Clarkson’s attempt to buy an expensive bird sculpture from a hipster toy shop, and envisions the joys — and potential horrors — of Lena Dunham’s five-episode revival announced Tuesday, it looms in the background, like a $38 slice of avocado toast.

Who can emerge as winners from these dramas? Probably not the toy store, probably not Clarkson, possibly (though not definitely) viewers of the beloved but divisive show, due to return to production next year. Who can? That borough that continues to capture the national imagination — a site of envy for some, of deep annoyance and hatred for others.

A spokesperson for the Brooklyn borough president, unfortunately, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The latest twist in the Clarkson drama came Tuesday night, when investigative journalist Pablo Torre released footage of the celebrity on her now infamous outing to Art of Play in Brooklyn. The nearly five- minute long video doesn’t include audio, but shows the star wearing a yellow t-shirt, jeans, a backpack and baseball cap interacting with and employee before leaving.

Guerin Charles/ABACA/Shutterstock

Those who have spent any time online in the past few days already know what happened. Over the weekend, Clarkson “drove all the way to Brooklyn to check out this store I thought looked really rad,” she wrote on X.

The outing didn’t end well — she wanted to buy something (later revealed to be a $15,000 bird sculpture that the store said was not for sale) and “was looked at as if I couldn’t afford it,” she wrote.

Clarkson called out the store, saying: “Wow, dude. You’re an idiot and just lost a huge sale,” comparing her experience to “being treated like Julia Roberts character in Pretty Woman.”

The store replied by saying the bird — named Molly — wasn’t for sale and called out Clarkson for putting them on blast.

“It’s been a surreal experience to be the focus of such widespread outrage after just one mention by a celebrity,” they wrote, before quoting “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” from Clarkson’s hit 2012 single — which struck some fans as snarky.

The back-and-forth somehow continued, with Clarkson accusing the shop of lying, while Art of Play co-owner Adam Rubin told Curbed that “Kelly Clarkson has put us in danger.”

Fast forward to Tuesday night, and Torres’ video, which has been viewed over 350,000 times.

Clarkson looked unglamorous in the video — no surprise to her fans, who have long loved her for her down-to-earth personality, something she appears to have held on to since winning the first season of “American Idol” in 2002 to just a few weeks ago, when she ended her eponymous Emmy-winning daytime talk show after seven seasons.

Those fans have been super supportive of Clarkson through everything from her weight loss journey to divorce and single parenthood, which made it even more jarring to see online discourse paint her as an entitled celebrity bullying a small business, a position taken by many in Brooklyn itself.

Even the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union has weighed in, with its president saying in a statement that: “Whether it involves a high-profile celebrity or an everyday shopper, no customer has the right to abuse retail workers on the floor or mobilize online harassment against them.”

The announcement that Dunham was getting the band back together for a limited revival of the hit series “‘Girls”’ she created on HBO (which shares a parent company with CNN) came via a video of a mock Zoom call between Dunham and her costars Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet and Andrew Rannells.

Jessica Miglio/HBO/Courtesy Everett Collection

The show epitomized early 2010s Brooklyn culture, and fans have been wondering how they will bring the show into the present day, with many parts of the borough even more gentrified (and expensive) than they were then.

“We always said we would only return to GIRLS if there was a specific story we were burning to tell. I’ve missed these characters, but for a long time I couldn’t quite picture them in the present day,” Dunham said in a statement . “Then, right around my fortieth birthday, they started talking to me in the shower. And, as you may remember, once this fivesome starts talking it’s pretty hard to get them to stop.”

It was surprising given that Dunham said in an interview back in April that she had never rewatched her series. “We got asked to do at one point if we wanted to do a ‘Girls’ rewatch podcast and I was like with total gratitude that anyone would care, that’s actually my nightmare job,” she said at the time.

Many millennials are obsessed with rewatching the TV show "Girls" -- but the show's creator, Lena Dunham, says she isn't one of them. "I've never done the rewatch," she says.

Production is set to begin in 2027 — a decade after the season six finale — which gives fans time to imagine the storylines. The questions are already bubbling, including: What’s happened with the son of Dunham’s character Hannah Horvath? And will they at all mention Adam Driver’s character given that he’s not listed as returning and Dunham wrote in her recent memoir about clashing with him on set?

It also serves as a reminder to the show’s many haters, who called out its unlikeable characters (including Dunham’s Hannah,), lack of diversity and atmosphere of privilege.

Which brings us back to Brooklyn.

In the spirit of cooperation, perhaps Dunham could bring Clarkson on for a guest spot that satirizes her toy store drama and gives her a chance to play the villain she’s being accused of being?

That just might kill two birds with one stone.

布鲁克林的公关代表是否是凯莉·克拉克森与一家玩具店之间不和的幕后推手，以及周二宣布的《女孩》重启计划的幕后推手？

纽约的这个区——如今以其高档社区而闻名——本周被卷入了两场文化风暴的中心。一方面，互联网对克拉克森试图从一家潮人玩具店购买一件昂贵鸟类雕塑的事件津津乐道；另一方面，人们又对莉娜·邓纳姆周二宣布的五集重启剧集充满期待（以及潜在的恐怖之处）。与此同时，这个区却像一块价值38美元的牛油果吐司一样，始终萦绕在人们心头。

谁能从这些风波中胜出？或许不是玩具店，或许不是克拉克森，也许（虽然不能肯定）是那档备受喜爱却又饱受争议的节目的观众，该节目将于明年回归制作。那么，谁才是真正的赢家呢？是那个持续吸引着全国目光的行政区——对一些人来说，它是令人艳羡之地；对另一些人来说，它是令人深恶痛绝的地方。

遗憾的是，布鲁克林区长的发言人尚未对此事作出回应。

克拉克森事件的最新进展发生在周二晚上，调查记者帕布罗·托雷公布了这位名人在布鲁克林“玩乐艺术”（Art of Play）游乐场所的一段视频，这段视频如今已臭名昭著。这段近五分钟的视频没有声音，但显示克拉克森身穿黄色T恤、牛仔裤，背着背包，头戴棒球帽，在离开前与一名工作人员互动。

Guerin Charles/ABACA/Shutterstock

过去几天上网的人都知道发生了什么事。周末，克拉克森在X上写道：“我一路开车到布鲁克林，去看看一家我觉得很酷的店。”

这次外出并不愉快——她想买一件东西（后来发现是一座价值 15,000 美元的鸟形雕塑，但商店说这件雕塑不出售），“店员看我的眼神好像我买不起似的，”她写道。

克拉克森当众指责这家商店：“哇，老兄。你真是个白痴，白白丢了一笔大生意。”她还把自己的经历比作“像电影《风月俏佳人》里的朱莉娅·罗伯茨饰演的角色一样被对待”。

商店回应称，这只名叫莫莉的鸟不出售，并指责克拉克森公开抨击他们。

“仅仅因为一位名人提到了我一次，就成为如此广泛愤怒的焦点，这真是一种超现实的体验，”他们写道，然后引用了克拉克森 2012 年的热门单曲中的一句歌词“杀不死你的会让你更强大”，这让一些粉丝觉得这是讽刺。

双方你来我往的争论仍在继续，克拉克森指责这家店撒谎，而 Art of Play 的共同所有人亚当·鲁宾告诉 Curbed，“凯莉·克拉克森让我们陷入了危险之中”。

时间快进到周二晚上，托雷斯的视频已被观看超过 35 万次。

视频中的克拉克森看起来并不光鲜亮丽——这对于她的粉丝来说并不意外，他们一直以来都喜欢她脚踏实地的个性，而她似乎从2002年赢得第一季“美国偶像”冠军到几周前结束了她以自己名字命名的、曾获得艾美奖的日间脱口秀节目（该节目已播出七季），一直保持着这种个性。

从克拉克森的减肥历程到离婚和单亲抚养，她的粉丝们一直非常支持她，因此，看到网上的一些言论将她描绘成一个欺凌小企业的、享有特权的明星，就更加令人震惊了，而布鲁克林的许多人也持这种观点。

就连零售、批发和百货商店工会也加入了声援行列，其主席在一份声明中表示：“无论是知名人士还是普通顾客，任何顾客都没有权利在店内辱骂零售员工或在网上对他们进行骚扰。”

邓纳姆宣布将召集原班人马，为她在 HBO（与 CNN 同属一家母公司）创作的热门剧集《女孩》推出限定版。这一消息是通过一段模拟 Zoom 通话的视频发布的，视频中邓纳姆与她的联合主演艾莉森·威廉姆斯、杰米玛·科克、佐莎·马梅特和安德鲁·兰内尔斯进行了通话。

杰西卡·米格里奥/HBO/埃弗雷特收藏公司供图

该剧完美地展现了 2010 年代初期的布鲁克林文化，粉丝们一直想知道他们将如何把这部剧带到今天，因为布鲁克林的许多地方比那时更加高档（也更加昂贵）。

“我们一直都说，只有当我们迫切想要讲述一个特定的故事时，才会回归《女孩》。我很想念这些角色，但很长一段时间以来，我都无法想象她们在现代的样子，”邓纳姆在一份声明中说道。“然后，就在我四十岁生日前后，她们开始在浴室里跟我说话。而且，你们可能还记得，一旦这五个人开始说话，就很难让她们停下来。”

考虑到邓纳姆在四月份的一次采访中曾表示她从未重温过自己的剧集，这着实令人惊讶。“有一次有人问我们是否愿意做一期《女孩》重温播客，我当时感激涕零，心想居然有人会关心这个，这其实是我最害怕的工作，”她当时说道。

许多千禧一代都热衷于重温电视剧《女孩》，但该剧的创作人莉娜·邓纳姆表示，她自己并不热衷于此。“我从来没重看过这部剧，”她说。

该剧将于2027年开拍——距离第六季结局已经过去了十年——这给了粉丝们足够的时间来想象剧情走向。各种疑问已经涌现，例如：莉娜·邓纳姆饰演的汉娜·霍瓦特的儿子后来怎么样了？考虑到亚当·德赖弗的角色并未出现在回归名单中，而且邓纳姆在最近的回忆录中也写到了与他在片场发生冲突，剧组是否会提及他的角色？

这也提醒了该剧的许多批评者，他们曾批评该剧角色令人讨厌（包括邓纳姆饰演的汉娜），缺乏多样性以及特权氛围。

这就把我们带回了布鲁克林。

本着合作的精神，或许邓纳姆可以邀请克拉克森客串出演，讽刺她玩具店的闹剧，并给她一个机会扮演她被指责的反派角色？

这或许能一举两得。