Entertainment Tonight ET Online ETOnline.com

In what appears to have been a publicity stunt, television personality Joan Rivers chained herself to a shopping cart in a Costco store in protest of the retailer's alleged refusal to sell her new book, a Burbank city official confirmed to ET.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Burbank Police Department responded to reports of Rivers' protest over her recently published book I Hate Everyone...Starting With Me, which is a series of amusing observations about the people and situations that bother her.

VIDEO: Joan Rivers Moves in With Daughter Melissa

Burbank city spokesman Drew Sugars said that Costco was unaware of what Rivers was doing and had not given her permission to protest on the premises. However, Rivers complied with the officers when they asked her to leave the store.

"She did have an entourage with her though," Sugars told ET, "as well as a camera crew documenting what was happening.

VIDEO: Joan Rivers vs. Sarah Palin: The War of Words

Rivers was not cited or arrested, and no complaint was filed against her.