Oprah: I was victim of racism at Switzerland shop

Oprah Winfrey says she was the victim of racism while shopping in Switzerland when a shop assistant in Zurich refused to show her a handbag because it was “too expensive” for her.

The media mogul is one of the world’s richest women. Forbes estimates that Winfrey earned €77m in the year ending in June.

When Winfrey goes shopping, she likely prompts retailers’ eyes to bulge with anticipation. But, it seems, only if they recognise her as the mega-rich potential client she really is.

Winfrey said that while in Zurich for Tina Turner’s wedding in July, she walked into a shop and a handbag behind the counter caught her eye. While many average shoppers might hesitate about a bag worth €30,000, Oprah says she asked to see it, but the shopkeeper said: “No. It’s too expensive.”

Winfrey said she asked to see the bag at least two more times, but the shopkeeper refused to take it off the shelf and suggested other, cheaper bags instead.

“One more time, I tried. I said: ‘But I really do just want to see that one,’ and the shopkeeper said: ‘Oh, I don’t want to hurt your feelings,” and I said, “OK, thank you so much. You’re probably right, I can’t afford it.’ And I walked out of the store,” Oprah recounted.

Winfrey said her high profile largely shields her from blatant, open racial and sexual discrimination in her daily life, but the self-made billionaire cited the encounter as an example of the ways in which even she is subjected to racism.

“I could’ve had the whole blow-up thing and thrown down the black card, but why do that? But that clearly is, you know... it [racism] still exists. Of course it does,” Oprah said.

While she chose not to make a fuss or name the shop, it quickly came out that the business was high-end boutique Trois Pomme, on Zurich’s exclusive shopping street Bahnhofstrasse.

Its owner, Trudie Goetz, apologised for the “misunderstanding”, according to Swiss newspaper Blick, and blamed it on the assistant’s failure to recognise Winfrey.

“We don’t have any facial recognition here,” Blick quoted Goetz as saying.

A spokeswoman for the Swiss tourism office, Daniela Baer, told the Associated Press: “We are very sorry for what happened to her.”

The tourism office also posted an apology on Twitter, saying “this person acted terribly wrong”.