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The Leopard
09 Aug 13 11:56
Joined:
Date Joined: 05 Apr 06
| Topic/replies: 47,797 | Blogger: The Leopard's blog
I am appalled...my feelings go out to her and her family and all those affected by this enormous injustice
.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23626340

US talk show host Oprah Winfrey says she was the victim of racism during a recent visit to Switzerland.

She said an assistant refused to serve her in an upmarket handbag shop in Zurich.

Winfrey, one of the world's richest women, was apparently told the bags on display were "too expensive" for her.

Her claims, made to a US television programme, come amid a political row over plans by some Swiss towns to ban asylum-seekers from some public places.

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Berne says human rights groups have likened the plans - which include banning asylum-seekers from swimming pools, playing fields and libraries - to apartheid.

Proof

The star made an estimated $77m last year
Winfrey, who stars in Lee Daniels' new film The Butler, visited Zurich last month to attend singer Tina Turner's wedding. The Oprah Winfrey Show is not shown in Switzerland.

Winfrey said she left the shop calmly without arguing, but that the experience was proof that racism continues to be a problem.

"There's two different ways to handle it," she said.

"I could've had the whole blow-up thing... but it still exists, of course it does."

Shop owner Trudy Gotz told the BBC that an assistant had shown Winfrey several other items before the "misunderstanding" over a $35,000 (£22,500) bag, which was kept behind a screen.

Winfrey's claims are a public relations disaster for Switzerland, our correspondent says.

About 48,000 people are currently seeking asylum in Switzerland. It has twice as many asylum seekers as the European average.

Officials say the curbs, which will also see asylum-seekers housed in special centres, are aimed at preventing tensions with residents.

The country's asylum laws were tightened in June.
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Report dustybin August 9, 2013 2:00 PM BST
marketing strategy Wink

'so how much is it?'

'2 million'

results in either 'yes it is you were correct' or stubbornly 'I'll have it' Mischief
Report dustybin August 9, 2013 2:00 PM BST
maybe the shop assistant was just very shrewd and knew exactly who she was
Report DONEMYLOT August 9, 2013 2:02 PM BST
It has twice as many asylum seekers as the European average yep, sure
Report The Leopard August 9, 2013 2:12 PM BST
^^^Probably per capita.
Report Petrus Romanus August 9, 2013 2:44 PM BST
1. How in the hell does a poxy handbag be worth that kinda money?

2. Why would anyone feel the need to pay such obscene amounts for something to carry round a credit card and some lipstick in?
Report dustybin August 9, 2013 2:48 PM BST
its a cae of the 'emperor's handbag'

its the same reason why all advertising make men look stupid while the woman sorts everything out, they are the ones that spend the money on crap....
Report BillyBunnsLane August 9, 2013 2:51 PM BST
My thoughts are with the bag..
Report The Leopard August 9, 2013 3:00 PM BST
Yeah....and Winfrey only wanted it so she could make her rich friends jealous....pathetic...give the money to charity you avaricious ***** !
Report Blades August 9, 2013 8:13 PM BST
A white friend of mine went to a Ferrari garage. The white salesman says to him : we can but dream sir. So why is this racist??? By the way, my mate ordered one 30 minutes later!ExcitedLaughAngryAngryAngryAngryAngry
Report Blades August 9, 2013 8:13 PM BST
A white friend of mine went to a Ferrari garage. The white salesman says to him : we can but dream sir. So why is this racist??? By the way, my mate ordered one 30 minutes later!ExcitedLaughAngryAngryAngryAngryAngry
Report DancingBraveTheBest August 9, 2013 11:15 PM BST
exactly blades, its as if they want to make an issue of it. why didnt she simply ask for the manager of the shop.
Report brngtwt August 9, 2013 11:48 PM BST
I think the press has made an issue of it.
But hey, let's do the chit chat thing of political correctness gone mad/it's just sticks and stones thing.
As for Leopard, who knows what she does for charity, when you got F*** You money you can buy what you like.
Report sideshowbob August 9, 2013 11:49 PM BST
load of old flannel. all shop assistants in expensive shops are hoity toity stuck up twonks. nothing to with racism. and yes, it happens all the time in normal shops too. im always getting told things are expensive that really arent. some people just think nobody has any money.
Report M T wallet August 10, 2013 9:28 AM BST
Not a lot of people know this one;

http://www.thinkinghomebusiness.com/2012/03/09/the-rolls-royce-sale-that-got-away-and-why-we-need-to-check-our-assumptions/
Report guinness2dear August 10, 2013 10:24 AM BST
I wonder if Oprah was in her usual J. C. Penney jogsuit and $6 dollar earrings when she went shopping in Zurich?
Report xmoneyx August 10, 2013 10:31 AM BST
in Portugal I went to a posh restaurant,asked for spaghetti ,and got thrown out Tongue Out
Report Diamond_Joe_Quimby August 10, 2013 11:56 AM BST
She is absolute vermin and the absolute braindead morons who cheer her on in her audience are the dregs of humanity.

Not ONCE did this shop assistant racially abuse her.



1. How in the hell does a poxy handbag be worth that kinda money?
2. Why would anyone feel the need to pay such obscene amounts for something to carry round a credit card and some lipstick in?


100% spot on, none of the morons in the media dare question their darling mind


The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Berne says human rights groups have likened the plans - which include banning asylum-seekers from swimming pools, playing fields and libraries - to apartheid.

Its comical the attitude of the liberals. You cant bring a vegetable into Britain because its a danger to the native fauna/nature but humans with any disease known to man can just wander in.......
Switzerland are spot on. 90% of these "Asylum seekers" are chancers who cant even speak the native language. Most of the countries they come from are incredibly wealthy but are poor due to corruption. Send them back there and tell them sort out their own mess.
Report Diamond_Joe_Quimby August 10, 2013 11:58 AM BST
The Oprah Winfrey Show is not shown in Switzerland.

And there lies the crux of the matter
Report Ivor August 10, 2013 12:03 PM BST
lucky Switzerland!
Report xmoneyx August 10, 2013 12:04 PM BST
roots was thou
Report polybot August 10, 2013 12:29 PM BST
Oprah not wanting to make a fuss though, says she will be happy just to have this lowly and impertinent 99 percent shop servant flogged and publicly humiliated.
Report reculver August 10, 2013 12:38 PM BST
and the bag thrown in for nothing.
Report gawdalmighty August 10, 2013 12:51 PM BST
Chaps, we are forgetting about the poor old croc who was slaughtered to make the bag in the beginning.
Report TELL DEL August 10, 2013 1:51 PM BST
Seen this on the news last night, have to say that was the most unconvincing grovelling reply from the owner of the shop.  Billionaire Oprah Winfrey could have bought the whole shop and her house and still have millions left in the bank.

Not sure how racist it was though, the snob salesperson would probably have said the same to anybody  who she thought didn't look like they could afford it.
Report Dotchinite August 10, 2013 1:56 PM BST
Winfrey is sulking because nobody recognised her. Its a non story.
Report SlippyBlue August 10, 2013 3:20 PM BST
I can remember being in Honolulu and tried to get into a shop to buy a couple of things and they told me I needed to make an appointment first! Cockneyist if you ask me.
Report Burton-Brewers August 10, 2013 3:26 PM BST
surely Oprah Winfrey is the expensive bag
Report kingsburyken August 10, 2013 3:28 PM BST
LaughLaughLaughLaughLaugh
Report Howdi August 10, 2013 3:35 PM BST
oprah could by Switzerland chekky feckers Excited
Report GoOnThen August 10, 2013 3:55 PM BST
Shop assistant obviously thought she was a wrong un....although a cursory glance at the Opmeisters well padded form should have allayed any fears of her legging it with said luxury item!
Report shiraz August 10, 2013 8:46 PM BST
Great stuff Burton-Brewers, that would make a good comedy scetch.


Political correctness has gone mad, if Winfrey stubbed her toe she would probably acuse the kerb of racism.
Report Dr Crippen August 10, 2013 8:58 PM BST
They must have though she wasn't a well to do person by the way she conducted herself.

You can take the person out of the gutter, but you can't take the gutter out of the person.
Report brendanuk1 August 10, 2013 9:06 PM BST
she would have been surrounded by her hangers on i would have thought Confused seems abit odd. Not like Rooney and  Stubbs in track suits
Report Capt__F August 10, 2013 9:39 PM BST
burt Laugh
Report EvgenyKissin August 11, 2013 12:16 AM BST
Does Oprah Winfrey have horses in training with Sir Michael Stoute? I seem to remember her horses pounding the Doncaster straight.
Report jamesbeckton. August 11, 2013 1:53 AM BST
The shop assistant is probably usually quite snobby to anyone who she thinks isn't good enough for the goods they sell. Being a black American was probably the reason why she was so snobby. There is a bit of a culture in Switzerland of being up themselves because everypone is loaded.
Report polybot August 11, 2013 7:25 AM BST
At first I thought it might have been Oprah Inc trying a shakedown scam on a handbag store, beginning to think she might be trying to shakedown Switzerland Shocked
Report Dr Crippen August 11, 2013 10:29 AM BST
Why on earth should being a black person have anything to do with it?

I'm sure plenty of white people who don't look the part get treated the same.

It's was a case of snobbery not racism.
Report Dr Crippen August 11, 2013 10:35 AM BST
Political correctness has gone mad, if Winfrey stubbed her toe she would probably accuse the kerb of racism.

Yes, this proves that she's just another one walking around with a chip on her shoulder.
Report Hound-Dog-2 August 11, 2013 10:47 AM BST
^ agree with that, don't think it was anything to do with colour, all about snobbery, and a shop assistant who obviously only wants to deal with people of a higher social status and hates people with a lower social status......obviously didn't know who Oprah Winfrey was or that she is the of the richest women in the world !

But nothing to do with colour and wasn't racism, she would probably have said the same thing to Vanessa Feltz !
Report lovegod August 11, 2013 10:50 AM BST
I think they would have denied entry to Feltz as the door wouldn't be wide enough.
Report SlippyBlue August 11, 2013 1:11 PM BST
Dr.C you are correct, nothing to do with racism just pure snobbery. In my example if I were Japanese I would have been ushered into that shop and given saki whilst perusing their goods with a personal shopper fawning all over me. As a Londoner who hadn't shaved for five days and looked a bit dishevelled generally they wouldn't let me in!
Report gawdalmighty August 11, 2013 1:28 PM BST
Pure snobbery. I have travelled to Switzerland and when shopping alone I felt the snobby glare of shop assistants, once you purchase something they are all over you, cant do enough but v suspicious of anyone who doesnt reek of money or flash the cash at the on set.
Report Crisp77 August 12, 2013 1:19 PM BST
Not racism. Sales people in posh shops have been pulling the same trick since Pretty Women.
Report polybot August 14, 2013 4:23 AM BST
Turns out the corpulent narcissist was just promoting her movie by falsely racially vilifying a lowly peon (this insubordinant shopgirl "denier" even had the audacity* to declare her own innocence Angry)
That clears up the whole unpleasant episode, hopefully the great fat one can now be allowed to collect her Medal of Freedom from Obama this Thursday in peace.

*the evil white person audacity that is, not the good Obama Audacity.
Report EvgenyKissin August 14, 2013 11:09 PM BST
Robin and Doris Day.
Report EvgenyKissin August 14, 2013 11:10 PM BST
^ this was for the 'unlikely couples' thread
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