[size=14pt]Oprah 'sorry' for Switzerland's flap[/size]

Associated Press - 2 hrs ago

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Oprah Winfrey says she's "sorry" about the media coverage that emerged after she said she experienced racism during a trip to 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," Winfrey said Monday night at the Los Angeles premiere of "Lee Daniels: The Butler."

"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," she continued.

In a recent interview with "Entertainment Tonight," Winfrey recalled a clerk at an upscale Zurich boutique refusing to show her a handbag. Winfrey said she was told she could not afford the $38,000 purse.

"I'm in a store, and the person doesn't obviously know that I carry the black card, and so they make an assessment based upon the way I look and who I am," said Winfrey, who earned $77 million in the year ending in June, according to Forbes magazine.

"I didn't have anything that said, 'I have money.' I wasn't wearing a diamond stud. I didn't have a pocketbook. I didn't wear Louboutin shoes. I didn't have anything," said Winfrey on the red carpet. "You should be able to go in a store looking like whatever you look like and say, 'I'd like to see this.' That didn't happen."

Swiss tourism officials and the boutique owner apologized for the incident last week, but Winfrey insists there's no need.

"It's not an indictment against the country or even that store," she continued. "It was just one person who didn't want to offer me the opportunity to see the bag. So no apologies necessary from the country of Switzerland. If somebody makes a mistake in the United States do we apologize in front of the whole country? No!"

"The Butler," which opens Friday, documents the civil rights movement through the story of a butler who served in the White House for seven presidents.

homesteady: So after all the insults we showered on the sales-girl, Oprah was wrong!

Chillisauce:

I bet you didn't read the article ....

Now go back and read slowly!

The boutique and country had already apologized. That means it happened.

Abeg go read dat article, no time to explain for u.

homesteady:

I read the article! She just realised that she took it to another dimension! The boutique and country apologised just to ease the tension the story has caused!

I purposefully did not mention the name of the store. I'm sorry that I said it was Switzerland,"

I'm really sorry that it got blown up

homesteady: So after all the insults we showered on the sales-girl, Oprah was wrong!

homesteady: So after all the insults we showered on the sales-girl, Oprah was wrong!

Cool Kizzy:

ode kirikiri

kaorama:
See the kind of brains that come here to insult GEJ. U didn't even read the article and u are commenting.

Valiantvaliant: please who is this oprah, is she the founder of opera mini?

homesteady:

I read the article! She just realised that she took it to another dimension! The boutique and country apologised just to ease the tension the story has caused!

If somebody makes a mistake in the United States do we apologize in front of the whole country? No!"

Valiantvaliant: please who is this oprah, is she the founder of opera mini?

homesteady: So after all the insults we showered on the sales-girl, Oprah was wrong!

homesteady:

Don't you understand logic??
She is apologising that a small matter which she thought was racist and was actually not, was taken to another dimension!
Well I still stand my grounds that the sales girl is innocent

me_for_you: Oprah's story rhymed with the salesgirl story. The salesgirl herself said oprah requested for a particular bag high up in d case. And she salesgirl said "no, it's just like this cheap one I'm holding in my hands. And I can also show u some cheap varieties of this cheap one I'm holding, which are not high in cases." Becausue the ones high in cases are more expensive. Cost 35,000 swiss francs to be exact. And this black woman, wearing no armando d'armando shoes and blood-diamond rings don't deserve to see those crocodile bags that cost 35,000 swiss francs.
It happened. All happened.
Oprah just apologised for mentioning swistzerland. And swiss journalsits dug dipper and got d store and got the salesgirl. All unnecersary.
And as the shop owner said " this thing has been blown over 200%"

homesteady:

I read the article! She just realised that she took it to another dimension! The boutique and country apologised just to ease the tension the story has caused!

"I'm in a store, and the person doesn't obviously know that I carry the black card, and so they make an assessment based upon the way I look and who I am,"

"I didn't have anything that said, 'I have money.' I wasn't wearing a diamond stud. I didn't have a pocketbook. I didn't wear Louboutin shoes. I didn't have anything," said Winfrey on the red carpet. "You should be able to go in a store looking like whatever you look like and say, 'I'd like to see this.'