Swiss apologize for encounter Oprah calls racist
Billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey says she ran into Swiss racism when a clerk at Trois Pommes, a pricey Zurich boutique, refused to show her a $38,000 handbag, telling one of the world's richest women that she wouldn't be able to afford it. Winfrey earned $77 million in the year ending in June, according to Forbes magazine.
"She said: 'No, no, no, you don't want to see that one. You want to see this one. Because that one will cost too much; you will not be able to afford that,'" Winfrey, appearing on the U.S. television program "Entertainment Tonight," quoted the clerk as saying. "And I said, 'Well, I did really want to see that one.' And she refused to get it."
I recall that a few years ago she had a similar run in in a Parisian Boutique. Now one thing you can be pretty sure of is that Ms. Winfrey isn't dressed like someone in the depths of poverty. I suppose that there aren't too many places in the US where she wouldn't be recognized as a media celebrity, but I think this could and would happen to a less well known woman of color in the US.
I'll be interested to see if there are people here who will claim that this isn't really about racism.