Kelly Clarkson & the best petty feuds on TV

For those of you not chronically online, something pretty amazing happened over the weekend. America's sweetheart Kelly Clarkson got into a full-blown internet feud with a small business in Brooklyn over a $15,000 toy bird…

While a large part of me is very “Kim, there’s people that are dying” about it all ~scrolls through horrific headline after horrific headline on the daily~ there’s something so wonderfully early aughts about a petty celeb feud that fills my pop culture cup.

Let’s break it down, shall we? After falling in love with a mechanical singing bird named Molly, Kelly Clarkson made the pilgrimage “all the way to Brooklyn” from Manhattan to the store Art of Play, where Molly resides. What happens next can never fully be known (release the tapes!), but here’s what Kelly and an unnamed entity behind the Art of Play Instagram account had to say:

Saturday, October 10:

Sunday, October 11:

After being “suddenly attacked by 8 million people who have never visited” their store, Art of Play fired back with a five-slide Instagram post claiming that Molly is a one-of-a-kind singing bird, “permanently attached to the wall,” and is not, nor has ever been, for sale.

Our girl was NOT having it. In a lengthy response, Clarkson accused the store of lying, claimed an employee explicitly told her the bird was for sale for $15,000, and doubled down on the alleged condescension. She ended with a particularly devastating review: “Your store is really cool. Unfortunately, you aren’t.”

Internet sleuths entered the chat and unearthed a photo of a $15,000 price tag hanging next to the mechanical bird. Case closed? Not quite.

Art of Play returned with another statement, explaining that while Molly is indeed not for sale, her nearly identical twin is available from the artist for $15,000 (guess she’s not a one-of-a-kind after all…). They also claimed that they offered Kelly a different singing bird for $2,000, but she didn't stick around long enough to see it.

And there you have it. A $15,000 toy bird, a Pretty Woman offense, public bashings, and two parties who refuse to back down. Whether you’re #TeamKelly or #TeamAoP, this is precisely the kind of low-stakes celebrity online drama we need in a world of horrifying headlines.

In honor of this wonderfully petty feud, I’m sharing my favorite three on-screen rivalries that prove the smallest disagreements make for the best entertainment.

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Streaming on HBO Max

No one does a petty feud (or has as many) as MY King of Comedy, Larry David. You’ve either seen this one already (in which case, take this as a sign from the universe to rewatch) or you haven’t (and therefore must watch at your earliest convenience to see a master at work).

From arguing over restaurant etiquette to holding grudges over the tiniest perceived slights, Larry will go to extraordinary lengths to prove he's right. There’s no better example than his feud with Mocha Joe, which begins with a favor gone wrong in the Season 7 finale and comes to a head in Season 10. You can start with any season, but for a Kelly vs. AoP-level feud, binge Season 10 in its entirety.

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Streaming on Netflix

One road-rage incident is all it takes to send two strangers (Steven Yeun and Ali Wong) into an increasingly unhinged game of revenge. What starts as a minor parking lot confrontation spirals into an all-consuming obsession, with both parties determined to get the last word, no matter the cost. A cautionary tale for anyone who's ever refused to let something go (CC: Kelly C). 

Season One is a masterpiece (with eight Emmys, three Golden Globes, and two SAG awards to boot), but you can save yourself six hours by skipping Season 2. Despite a cast I adore (Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaac, Charles Melton, and Cailee Spaeny), it was a bore. Sorry, Netflix, call me petty!

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Streaming on HBO Max

Whenever Jake Lacy pops up on your screen, you know you’re in for a criminally unlikable character (minus his stint as Pete Miller on The Office). And his character on The White Lotus was no exception. Rather than enjoying his newlywed bliss, Shane (Lacy) spends his luxury Hawaiian vacation consumed by an increasingly ridiculous battle of egos with resort manager Armond (Murray Bartlett), proving that nothing brings out the worst in people quite like a customer-service dispute. Sound familiar?

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Meredith is the Managing Editor at Pix Media and has been covering TV, movies, podcasts, and books for 8 years. Raised on VH1's I Love the... series, E! True Hollywood Stories, and The Real Housewives, Meredith has been fluent in pop culture since infancy. She religiously watches every Bravo show, lives for HBO Sunday nights, goes deep on reality-scandal discourse, and has a TBR that is physically taking over her apartment.