Handbag too expensive for Oprah!

xterra · Post time 9-8-2013 07:20 PM

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey has told how she became a victim of racism during a recent trip to Switzerland.

The US presenter said an assistant refused to serve her in an upmarket handbag shop in Zurich.

Winfrey, 59, who is said to have a personal fortune of $2.8 billion (￡1.8billion), was told the bag she was looking at was “too expensive” for her.

She made the claims on an American talk show this week saying the incident happened when she was in the country for Tina Turner’s wedding.

She said: “I go into a store that shall remain unnamed and I say to the woman, ‘May I see that bag right above your head?’ and she says to me ‘No. It’s too expensive.’ “And I said ‘No, no, no, the black one, the one that’s folded over,’ and 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 won’t be able to afford that one’.”

Apologetic: Trois Pommes Boutique owner Trudie Goetz put the incident down to a 'misunderstanding'
Winfrey, who was staying in the five-star Dolder Grand Hotel during her visit then left the store. She added: “I could have had the big blow up thing and thrown down the black card and all that stuff, but why do that?”

Local media today said the store was the Trois Pommes Boutique. The owner, Trudie Goetz, was also a guest at Tina Turner’s wedding.

The Tages Anzeiger newspaper said that Ms Goetz had apologised for the “misunderstanding” which occurred because the bag was behind a security screen and the shop assistant had invited Ms Winfrey to see some similar bags on the first floor. The price tag of the bag the American host, whose show is not aired in Switzerland, was looking at was 35,000 Swiss Francs (￡24,500).

The incident comes as the Swiss authorities came under fire for introducing “apartheid” type plans to separate asylum seekers from its citizens.

Some Swiss towns plan to keep asylum-seekers away from public places such as swimming pools, playing fields and libraries, in a move human rights groups say is racist.

The curbs are aimed at preventing tensions with residents, officials say.

Asylum-seekers are to be housed in special centres, mainly former army barracks.

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