Talk show host Oprah Winfrey came forward yesterday and claimed that she had been a “victim of racism” during a recent visit to Switzerland for singer Tina Turner’s wedding.
In an interview with “Entertainment Tonight,” the TV superstar recounted how a shop assistant in Zurich refused to show her a black handbag under the assumption that Winfrey could not afford it. The woman told Winfrey that she “[would] not be able to afford that” in reference to the $38,000 bag, after which Winfrey calmly walked out of the store.
While the incident may or may not indicate racism, the Swiss tourism office has apologized to Winfrey. The store’s owner, Trudie Goetz, has also issued an apology for the “misunderstanding” that occurred in her store.
“I have to admit that the employee is Italian. Of course, she speaks English, but not as well as her mother tongue,” Goetz told The Blick, a German-language Swiss newspaper. “It was a real misunderstanding.”
Since then, individuals both Swiss and foreign alike have sounded off in comment boxes and threads that the shop assistant did not defy Winfrey out of racism, but rather out of a snobbishness characteristic of many shopkeepers.
Winfrey had previously encountered a similar situation in Paris. In 2005, she was turned away from a Hermés boutique 15 minutes before closing time for a “private event.”
So was it racism? Sound off in our comments below!