NEW YORK — It was something most people have likely done at one time or another: complain to others about feeling judged or dismissed during an interaction, maybe even take to social media to post about it.

But just because we might all have the same impulse, we all don’t have the same reach and impact. Exhibit A: a dispute between singer Kelly Clarkson and a small store in Brooklyn that's brought out angry fans and heated commentary.

The conflict from over the weekend, involving a high-priced mechanical bird, is raising more issues than just the quality of customer service. It's also a case study in power dynamics, and the differential that exists between someone with a high profile and those without.

It started Saturday when Clarkson went to Art of Play, a store in Brooklyn that offers items like books, games and playing cards and also hosts magic shows. But the interaction turned negative, she said in a social media post, when she “was looked at as if I couldn’t afford it” and went on to say the store had “just lost a huge sale.” She named the store and gave it a thumbs down.

A back-and-forth ensued, with the store making its own posts saying initially that the item wasn't for sale and then adding that they had tried to find her an alternative. Clarkson said that wasn't true.

Since Clarkson's initial post, there's been a barrage of commentary online — and, the store owners say, in the real world. There have been hateful messages and reviews, and even someone showing up at the store, said Adam Rubin, one of the partners.

“I don’t understand why these people are willing to debase themselves on behalf of a celebrity they never met,” he said. Representatives for Clarkson did not respond to repeated attempts to get comment.

Celebrities have power in different ways. They can influence what people feel as well as impact what they think or believe, said Alfred Archer, assistant professor at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, who has done research around the ethics and politics of fame.

In a situation like Clarkson's, the influence is heavily weighted in the celebrity's favor as a result, he said. That doesn't mean celebrities should be censored or barred from speaking, but they should be cognizant of that reality in determining what they say and how they say it.

“You can’t hold the celebrity responsible for everything that their followers do, of course,” Archer said, but those who have influence should remember that their words can resonate widely and “be careful about what they put on social media and what they communicate in public for that reason.”

That power can also have positive ripples — like when Ms. Rachel, the children's educator and YouTube star, asked people on social media for Black-owned businesses to support. She gave recognition to small businesses like a coffee shop in New Jersey, leading to a huge jump in sales and popularity.

“I think really the responsibility here is to use this power in a responsible way,” Archer said. “And of course, what that looks like in any individual case is going to be a decision for a particular celebrity to make. But they do have to think about it a bit more carefully than an ordinary member of the public does.”

While everyday people have always been fascinated by the famous, the explosion of social media and the glut of information — and the way we follow our family and friends right along with our favorite stars — means there's more of a likelihood that people can develop parasocial, or one-sided, unreciprocated relationships with celebrities. That can lead to the kind of harsh messages and bad reviews that the Brooklyn store says it has experienced.

That aspect of modern life is baffling to Franchesca Ramsey, a writer, podcaster, and content creator.

“I think social media itself has heightened people’s ability to feel a connection to a celebrity or a public person that they don’t know,” she said.

“Back in my day, you liked a musician, you put up a poster on the wall. You read the magazine articles about them. You maybe went to their concert. You watched their music videos. But beyond that, it didn’t feel like a two-way relationship. It felt like I’m the fan and this is the person that I really enjoy,” she said.

“Social media has … kind of created this false sense of reality where, I really think even the act of watching someone’s content on your phone and it looks like they’re talking directly to you,” she said.

Asked what advice he would give another small-business owner facing this kind of situation, Rubin didn't have any. “This is not something that a small-business owner has the capability to deal with,” he said. “This is something that happens on a level of fame and celebrity that I don’t have access to, (that) most normal people don’t have access to.”

Watching the crowd of reporters from his plumbing supply store next door to Art of Play, Daniel Graffeo couldn't believe the uproar was still going on several days after the initial encounter, but wasn't totally surprised. “Nowadays everybody's looking for something, you know, publicity,” he said.

He hoped it would never find him. “I would not want to be in that situation.”

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LONDON — Russell Brand behaved as a “ruthless” sexual predator when he assaulted six women over the course of a decade, a prosecutor said Wednesday, as she opened the rape and sexual assault case against the actor-comedian.

Brand, 51, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault. The charges involve six women and alleged offenses between 1999 and 2009.

Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones told jurors at Southwark Crown Court in London that the six women, who don't know each other, were assaulted by Brand in “a hotel room, workplaces, a toilet cubicle in a bar and at his home address.”

She said Brand at the time had an “indiscriminate and voracious” desire for sexual contact, and “women were simply a means to an end.”

The prosecutor said Brand could be funny and charming, “a flirt with a huge sexual appetite — childlike in his expectation that his every desire should be met.”

“He was ruthless, he was calculating, he was manipulative. And, the prosecution say, he was a sexual predator,” Karmy-Jones said.

Brand listened intently from the dock as the prosecutor described each of the alleged incidents, including the earliest, in which Brand allegedly raped a woman in a hotel room during the Labour Party’s annual conference in 1999. Brand, then a rising stand-up comedian, was performing in a cabaret on the fringe of the conference in the English coastal town of Bournemouth.

Two years later, another woman alleges, Brand tried to drag her into the men’s bathroom at the office building where she worked.

“There can be little doubt as to what Mr. Brand’s intention was,” Karmy-Jones said.

A third woman alleges that Brand orally raped her in 2004 in the restroom of a London bar, telling her “Don’t be a spoilsport” when she asked him to stop.

The prosecutor said the other complainants include a woman who says Brand kissed and groped her at a London radio station in 2004 or 2005, leaving her feeling “dirty and disgusting”; and a then-21-year-old fan who says Brand anally raped her at his home after she met him at one of his shows in 2009.

She said the following year she exchanged text messages with Brand, telling him: “You treated me like an animal.” He replied: “I’m sorry.”

The final complainant says Brand demanded a massage and pressed his face into her groin during the recording of an advertisement in 2009.

Karmy-Jones told the jury that none of the alleged victims reported the alleged assaults at the time, due to guilt, shame and concern that they would be blamed. They individually went to police after a 2023 television program broadcast anonymous claims against Brand, she said.

The prosecutor said that jurors would hear from the women later in the trial, and “I have no doubt you will find their evidence compelling.”

The first witness to give evidence was Mark Pinheiro, a former friend of Brand who accompanied him on the 1999 trip to Bournemouth. He said that the day after the alleged rape, Brand made them leave town abruptly and seemed “incredibly alert and incredibly afraid.”

“Whenever a police siren passed the car, Russell would cower down behind the side window so he couldn’t be seen,” Pinheiro said.

Brand’s lawyer, Ian Winter, questioned Pinheiro's recollection of events more than a quarter century ago.

Brand denies all the charges. In police interviews, he denied ever engaging in nonconsensual sexual activity.

Brand is on bail and arrived at court on Wednesday to a crowd of photographers and video journalists. He said he felt “blessed.”

“I feel, of course, concerned but hopeful that this process will lead to good outcomes for everybody involved,” Brand said. “That’s my prayer.”

Known for risque stand-up routines and battles with drugs and alcohol, Brand rose to prominence in the early 2000s, hosting television programs and his own BBC radio show. He appeared in Hollywood films including “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek” and was briefly married to pop star Katy Perry.

In recent years he has moved away from mainstream media, relocated to Florida and built a large online following with videos mixing wellness, conspiracy theories and discussions of his religious devotion.

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Dolly Parton’s nephew and longtime head of security said in a Tennessee court filing Tuesday that he was a close friend and ally of Parton's longtime manager Danny Nozell before Nozell took out a restraining order accusing him of threatening to do violence and destroy Parton’s legacy and business empire.

In an affidavit opposing the temporary order becoming permanent, Bryan Seaver said text messages Nozell cited as evidence against him were a “private conversation between two friends who were both frustrated, grieving and discussing strategy.” The text messages were sent shortly before and after Parton's Aug. 25 death.

Seaver said he never sent threatening messages to any of Parton’s businesses or business partners or their employees.

The filings represent Seaver’s first public defense of himself since a serious rift opened up in the country music legend’s circle and spilled into public view shortly after her death, with Nozell and Seaver on opposing sides.

Seaver's court filing says Nozell did not react with alarm to his text messages at the time and that he agreed with or reacted positively to some of them. Seaver says Nozell encouraged him to publicly tout the military and arms aspect of his security company, Squadron Augmented Protection Services, as a smart business-promotion move, then turned around and used them as evidence of Seaver's capacity for dangerous violence.

She's Alive, an entity run by Nozell and founded to manage and protect Parton’s estate, terminated Seaver and SAPS in early September, and the following week petitioned for the restraining order against him, arguing that his “terrorizing conduct made their continued retention untenable.”

In granting the temporary restraining order, Chancellor I’Ashea L. Myles cited Seaver's “claimed access to weapons, experience with violence, and intention to retaliate.”

The two sides will make their cases to Myles at a hearing on Oct. 20. Emails seeking comment were sent to lawyers for She's Alive and Nozell.

Seaver said he was blindsided by the order, which was granted while he was doing contract security work in Haiti.

Seaver and SAPS must refrain from entering any She’s Alive property or talking with or being within 1,000 feet of She’s Alive employees and business partners. The order is also meant to keep Seaver from interfering with its business relationships.

Seaver argued in his response that the order is so broad, and Parton's business reach so great, that much of Nashville and even his own relatives are off limits to him.

In one message written Sept. 1 that was cited by She's Alive, Seaver said: “I’m going to set up a podcast dedicated to ruining Dolly’s brand partnerships and telling the violations these people have done on us. It’s going to be great. Or (expletive) pay me.”

Seaver said his anger and the demand were only over more than $250,000 that his company was owed for completed work by Herschend Family Entertainment, which operates Parton’s amusement park Dollywood and her Songteller Hotel, which opened after her death.

Seaver acknowledged being overly crude and profane in his messages to Nozell. He said allegations that he had “menaced and intimidated” HFE employees were simply false.

He included as an exhibit a 2024 letter from Parton praising him and his company. Parton had handpicked Seaver to announce her death once she succumbed to cancer.

Parton was a widely beloved country music giant, philanthropist and cultural icon who wrote hundreds of songs, including classics such as “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You.” Her music earned a total of more than 100 million worldwide sales and more than 1 billion online streams.

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By Associated Press