Swiss Shop Claims Oprah Winfrey Handbag Incident: "Nothing To Do With Racism"

Oprah Winfrey seems to have been the victim of racism whilst visiting Switzerland. The claim follows an incident in which a shop assistant refused to show Winfrey a bag, saying it was "too expensive".

However, Winfrey referenced the incident whilst responding to a question about racism. She also addressed the audience of Entertainment Tonight with an open ended question: "Now why did she do that?"

Winfrey declined to reference the store's name; nevertheless it was quickly discovered and revealed as the Trois Pomme. The shop's manager Trudie Goetz claimed the incident was a misunderstanding. In a statement made to CNN, Goetz said ""Mrs Oprah said she just wanted to look at the bag, she didn't want it taken down, and because my sales assistant felt a little embarrassed about the price, she quickly said that she also had the model in other materials such as ostrich and suede, which weren't so expensive." She went on to say the sales assistant wanted to show Winfrey other bags and not because she had no intention of selling the shop's products.

She went on to say that the sales assistant "just wanted to do her best, She feels very bad because she wanted to show her other bags. This had nothing whatsoever to do with racism."

This is all well and good but Winfrey specifically asked three times to look at the Tom Ford bag, why did the assistant deliberately refuse to show her it? As for being embarrassed about the price - if you work in such an expensive shop surely you'd be used to telling customers such prices?

However much the shop assistant and the manager deny any racist motivation in this unpleasant scenario: it's fairly evident this sales assistant harboured outdated stereotypical views.

Oprah Winfrey at the premiere of Beyonce: Life is but a Dream, held at the Ziegfield Theatre, New York.