Posted on 08/09/2013 8:50:37 AM PDT by traumer
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 one of the bags was "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.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Only one word comes to mind - and that word is “Pathetic”.
What a pantload. It was probably because she was dressing down, being incognito. Europeans are rude in the retail environment and happily profile to see if you can afford their products.
Try being in London and deciding you’d like to walk into the Holland and Holland store in jeans and a T shirt. Try just walking into some stores.
The same store would also probably say the same thing to half the celebutards who happened to be white. And they would happily say it to me. Black had nothing to do with it.
I think I’m going to cry.
Didn't she have some problems with sex abuse in the orphanages or schools she funded? The ones with her name on them...?
I saw a $25,000 bag for sale in Vegas once. It was an original “Alan Freed” record bag (vinyl with a pouch a for 45s) with Alan pictured at the WJW (Cleveland station) microphone.
This one was in perfect condition and doubtful if any others survive, let alone in that condition. Even the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was unwilling to pay that much for it.
For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself..
or her....
sounds about right with the liberal money crowd.
Anyone, whether they can afford it or not, that would pay $35,000 for a bag to carry stuff in deserves to be treated like a stupid dumba$$...Cause that’s exactly what they are...
Not racism necessarily.
I've had it happen to me (white) and it is mostly a snobbery factor - race does not matter, only looking rich. I've always just walked away and considered it a good thing I didn't give my money to the snobs.
Someone tell her “Get the f**k outta here, n*gger!”?
Racists? In Switzerland?
ha ha ha ha ha ha
Oprah may be well travelled but she certainly isn’t worldly. This kind of thing happens EVERYWHERE to all kinds of people. A white person dressing downscale going into that shop would be treated the same.
Even so, even if it was racism alone, find out how the world works ... racism is EVERYWHERE (and Europe is a good place to find it). It’s not just in the places the media tells you it is.
As a possibly interesting fact, an American entertainer, (female and white) went into a Jaguar dealership. When the salesman told he she couldn’t afford it, the customer (dressed in casually in jeans (doubtlessly looking more than a bit like a hippy) took no offense.
That is the difference between Joan Baez and Oprah Whinefery.
I suppose that post makes me “judgmental”.
Pity.
Jack it up to $40,000 and then show it to her.
Switzerland isn’t like most of the rest of Europe. They are not in the EU, believe firmly in the right to bear arms and have very little time for the kind of PC that infects the rest of Europe and to a slightly lesser extent, the USA.
I love the place, btw, the people were some of the friendliest people I’d ever met, and their country is clean, tidy, virtually crime-free and prosperous. As a Brit, I was starting to get an inferiority complex just walking around the place.
I would tend to believe it was classism and not racism. The sales person looked at Oprah’s ten tons of fun and figured she couldn’t afford the bag. Figured she didn’t have the class to afford it. The funny thing is Oprah proved the salesgirl right by making a big deal out of it and calling it racism rather than just walking out without the bag.
She has a new movie coming out soon doesn’t she? That is why we are hearing this story from her.
Saw on a vid on ‘Inside Edition’ or ‘Entertainment Tonight’ where Oprah said ‘Nobody in their right mind would EVER call me a n-——!’
I am sure they would say the same after looking at me. That isn’t racism; it is snottiness.
**********************************
Agreed , I’m a creepy ass cracker myself and used to drive a Benz and a Ford ,,, funny how the pump always turned on with just a wave to the attendant when I was driving the Benz even if I was filthy from yardwork ,, in the Ford I always ...ALWAYS had to go inside with cash first.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.