Tag: Switzerland

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Celebrities Racism

Oprah Winfrey Apologies For Media Uproar

In an interview with the Associated Press, Miss. Winfrey explained that her intentions were not to cause a media feed fest when she mentioned what happened to her in Switzerland.

“I think that incident in Switzerland was just an incident in Switzerland. I’m really sorry that it got blown up. I purposefully did not mention the name of the store. I’m sorry that I said it was Switzerland. I was just referencing it as an example of being in a place where people don’t expect that you would be able to be there.”

The incident became international when Oprah suggested that it was racism that caused a store clerk in Switzerland to deny her seeing a handbag of her choice because it was too expensive.

She told Entertainment Tonight:  “I was in Zurich the other day, at a store whose name I will not mention. I didn’t have my eyelashes on, but I was in full Oprah Winfrey gear. I had my little Donna Karan skirt and my little sandals on. But obviously ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ is not shown in Zurich.”

Oprah’s apology comes after the sales clerk accused her of lying. In a recent interview, the clerk emphatically denied being a racist and said she was shocked that Oprah made such a claim.

“It is absolutely not true that I declined to show her the bag on racist grounds. I even asked her if she wanted to look at the bag,” she said.

This has the makings of a lawsuit. Its the natural progression.

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Celebrities Featured

Switzerland Sales Clerk Says Oprah is a Liar

She is horrified that someone as powerful as Oprah would make up such a story. In an interview with a Swiss newspaper, the clerk said:

“I don’t know why she is making these accusations. She is so powerful, and I am just a shop girl.

“It is absolutely not true that I declined to show her the bag on racist grounds. I even asked her if she wanted to look at the bag,” the woman said.

“I didn’t hurt anyone. I don’t know why someone as great as her must cannibalize me on TV. … If it had all taken place as she claimed, why has she not complained the next day at the wedding of Tina Turner with Trudie Goetz, my boss? She was there also at the Turner wedding as a guest. I don’t understand it. … I spoke to Oprah Winfrey in English. My English is OK but not excellent, unfortunately. … I didn’t know who she was when she came into the store. That wouldn’t have made any difference if I had.”

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Entertainment Racism racist

In Today’s Case of Racism: Oprah Winfrey Finds Out She Is Black

If a billionaire like Oprah Winfrey cannot escape those who judge her based on the color of her skin, people we affectionately call racists, what chance do you have if you’re just a member of the common folk group?

Oprah Winfrey must not be a household name in Switzerland because a store clerk at an expensive Zurich boutique didn’t know that American media mogul was a billionaire.

During a recent trip to northern Switzerland for Tina Turner’s wedding, Oprah said a saleswoman at Trois Pommes refused to show her a $38,000 handbag because it was “too expensive.”

“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 said in an interview with “Entertainment Tonight.” “And I said, `Well, I did really want to see that one.’ And she refused to get it.”

“I didn’t have my eyelashes on, but I was in full Oprah Winfrey gear. I had my little Donna Karan skirt and my little sandals. But obviously ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ is not shown in Zurich,” she added

She went on to say the sales assistant suggested she look at cheaper bags.

“There’s two different ways to handle it. I could’ve had the whole blow-up thing,” she said, but “I left the store but it proves that racism is still an issue.”

Just hours after “Entertainment Tonight” aired the interview, Swiss tourism officials and boutique owner Trudie Goetz offered their apologies to Ms. Winfrey.

“We are very sorry for what happened to her, of course, because we think all of our guests and clients should be treated respectfully, in a professional way,” said Swiss tourism spokeswoman Daniela Baer.

Goetz insisted that the whole incident was a misunderstanding.

“I’m very sorry about this incident,” she said during a radio interview. “This can only happen because of a communication problem and a misunderstanding.”

“The shop assistant apparently asked her (Oprah) if she would like to see the bag, but she apparently said `No, I just want to look’. And then she (Oprah) asked how much the bag costs and she (the employee) told her how much the bag was,” she explained. “I believe she rather said something like `we have some less expensive’ – `we also have some less expensive bags’ and not `it’s too expensive for you.’”

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Politics

For Security Concerns, Bush Can’t Go To Switzerland

Former President George Bush has a love affair with conservative Republicans and the Teaparty here in America. As far as they are concerned, the 43rd president could not do no wrong and was the best thing that ever happened to America, next to their supreme idol, Ronald Reagan that is. But in Switzerland, it’s quite a different story, as they took the initiative to cancel a scheduled fund raiser by the former president, because of “security concerns.”

The organizer of the event in Geneva, the United Israel Appeal, informed Bush of the cancellation on Friday. The Associated Press reports the following;

The Swiss daily newspaper Tribune de Genève reported Saturday that the charity feared that protests against Mr. Bush planned by left-wing groups could result in violence.

“The calls to demonstrate were sliding into dangerous terrain,” the charity’s lawyer, Robert Equey, told the newspaper. “The organizers claimed to be able to maintain order, but warned they could not be held responsible for any outbursts.”

Other possible reasons for the cancellation? The report continues;

Several human rights groups including Amnesty International and the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights had planned to ask Swiss prosecutors to open a criminal investigation against Mr. Bush over the admission in his recent memoirs that he personally authorized the waterboarding of terrorism suspects.

“Whatever Bush or his hosts say, we have no doubt he canceled his trip to avoid our case,” the Center for Constitutional Rights and others said in a statement.

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