Kelly Clarkson has been blasted for her "reprehensible abuse of power" following a dispute with a Brooklyn boutique.
The 44-year-old singer recently took to social media to vent as she accused Art of Play curiosity shop in Brooklyn Heights of dismissing her when she attempted to buy a $15,000 mechanical bird named Molly.
However, the store's co-owner Adam Rubin has now revealed Kelly's comments have led to his small business and staff receiving an onslaught of threatening messages from her fans.
"It's a pop star, a mechanical bird, it's surreal. When this thing first started, everybody wanted us to die," he told Page Six.
"And as the truth has come to light, thinking people realise this is reprehensible abuse of power. We have to reconsider the place we give celebrities in our society."
Clarkson has claimed that when she showed an interest in buying the bird, which was situated on a wall in the store, staff were condescending and treated her like "Julia Roberts's character in (the 1990 movie) Pretty Woman".
However, Art of Play has insisted the bird was a permanent fitting and not for sale, so they then offered to sell her a "different singing bird automation".
Despite Clarkson's allegations that staff were "rude" and attempted to cover up the incident with "lies", Rubin has insisted his employees treat everyone equally and his business doesn't deserve the onslaught of hate it has received.
"This is not how you can behave as a citizen in the world, like, if you are this famous and powerful and you try to squash someone like a bug, then we're supposed to blame the trolls for all the damage that's inflicted. She lit the fuse," he continued.
"It's been so intense - thousands of hateful phone calls, thousands of hateful text messages, Kelly Clarkson fans demanding we issue her an apology, and it's just such a perverse distortion of reality, that anyone could look at the situation and think that we are the ones who owe an apology," Rubin argued.
The store owner also claimed Clarkson fans have "come out of the woodwork" to track down and troll his employees on social media.
He also suggested the Stronger singer was unhappy because she didn't receive special treatment during her visit.
"Regardless of what happened in the shop, a misunderstanding in a crowded shop - everybody that comes into the store is treated the same, like a normal person. That's what pi***ed her off," Rubin added.
