Reba McEntire has revealed how she learned about Kelly Clarkson’s growing dispute with a Brooklyn store, admitting that the controversy only came to her attention while she was working on her NBC sitcom, Happy’s Place.

Clarkson recently made headlines after accusing The Art of Play in Brooklyn of giving her the “Pretty Woman” treatment during a shopping trip. The dispute began over a mechanical singing bird named Maggie and quickly turned into a heated online exchange between the singer and the store’s owner.

During a recent interview with E! News alongside her Happy’s Place castmates, McEntire was asked about the controversy and explained that she had only just heard about it.

“I just heard about it in the makeup trailer a while ago,” McEntire said.

Her costar Melissa Peterman immediately revealed that she was the one who had told the country music star about the situation.

Peterman explained that their busy filming schedule had left little time to keep up with the latest news. With long days on set, neither actress had been following much of what was happening online.

“It must be really out there if I’ve heard about it,” Peterman joked, adding that she had not been watching much because she had been working so much.

McEntire has maintained a close connection with Clarkson since the singer married Brandon Blackstock, the son of McEntire’s former husband, Narvel Blackstock. Although Clarkson and Blackstock later divorced, the two entertainers have remained connected through their family history.

The controversy began on October 10, when Clarkson took to X to describe what she called a disappointing shopping experience at The Art of Play.

The American Idol winner said she had driven to Brooklyn to visit the store, expecting to find several items she wanted to purchase. Instead, she claimed that a staff member treated her as though she could not afford the merchandise and offered to find a comparable item.

“Wow, dude. You’re an idiot and just lost a huge sale,” Clarkson wrote, while sarcastically encouraging people to visit the store if they wanted to experience treatment similar to Julia Roberts’ character in Pretty Woman.

The post quickly gained attention online, prompting the store’s owner, Adam Rubin, to publicly challenge Clarkson’s account.

In an interview with Page Six, Rubin said the business had faced intense backlash following her post.

“It’s a pop star, a mechanical bird, it’s surreal. When this thing first started, everybody wanted us to die,” he said.

Rubin described Clarkson’s post as a “reprehensible abuse of power” and argued that the incident raised questions about the influence celebrities have over public opinion.

He also claimed that the store had received thousands of hateful phone calls and text messages. Rubin further criticized fans who demanded an apology, describing their response as “a perverse distortion of reality.”

The dispute intensified after the store maintained that the mechanical bird Clarkson had asked about was not for sale. According to the shop, the bird was a display item intended to attract customers’ attention.

Clarkson rejected that explanation in a sarcastic Instagram post, insisting that she had seen a price tag on the wall and had been told the bird cost $15,000.

“That’s the narrative Art of Play is gonna go with,” she wrote, before recounting what she said happened during the conversation with the store’s staff.

Clarkson maintained that the employee had confirmed the bird was available for purchase before offering to find her something comparable. She also accused the employee of looking her up and down in a condescending manner.

The store and Clarkson have offered conflicting accounts of the encounter, and the disagreement has continued to attract attention online.

For McEntire, however, the story was apparently not on her radar until Peterman brought it up during their busy filming schedule. Her revelation offered a glimpse into how the Happy’s Place cast has been keeping up with the outside world while working on the sitcom.