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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think Oprah may be being a little inflammatory?

207 replies

fackinell · 09/08/2013 17:15

I very much admire Oprah Winfrey but I'm a little concerned by the news that she think the incident with the handbag in Switzerland may have been racially motivated.

IMO everyone is equal based solely on their actions so prepared to be told I am U. I can be a bit of a scruff and on a few occasions have been informed that something is out of my price range. I am white, British, 40 something and put it down to snobbery of the assistant involved, making a snap judgement on me.

I feel Oprah's comments could invoke a bit of animosity the (hopefully) calming race division. With each generation the former issues seem to be diluting (I haven't heard a racist comment in anyone under 40 for years.) isn't this just stirring trouble where there may not necessary be any?

OP posts:
fuzzywuzzy · 09/08/2013 17:19

You haven't heard a racist comment from anyone under 40, really?

Original poster
fackinell · 09/08/2013 17:27

No fuzzy, maybe I'm just lucky. I am exceptionally intolerant of negativity towards any race so maybe people just avoid saying things in front of me. One friend made an English comment last year and I ripped her a new one, so maybe that's why. I am Scottish btw but I won't accept anti-English shit the same as any other racist shit.

OP posts:
saadia · 09/08/2013 17:29

I think YABU. My guess is that she has pretty good intuition and would not have said it if she hadn't felt it.

TSSDNCOP · 09/08/2013 17:31

The shop manager is fighting back on R 2 news. Defending her staff and saying that based on her staffs record it is a misunderstanding. Hope it is, but a good case of boss standing by team in face of accusation by arguably most famous black woman on the planet.

chibi · 09/08/2013 17:32

why would someone who has heard about this incident second-hand be better placed than the person involved to decide whether the incident was racist?

i am inclined to believe that a person who has been a black woman on this earth, in a deeply racist society for 50+ years can recognise racismwhenshe sees it

chickieno1 · 09/08/2013 17:33

Sorry fackinell but YABU! Racism is alive and kicking unfortunately and if someone as rich and powerful as Oprah can't point this out who can?? She has nothing to gain from it.

soverylucky · 09/08/2013 17:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

gordyslovesheep · 09/08/2013 17:38

YABU unless you can think why a shop assistant would refuse to serve a black women because 'she can't afford' to shop in an exclusive store that isn't based on the fact that she reached that assumption based on her skin colour

Original poster
fackinell · 09/08/2013 17:41

Fair enough, what got me though was the 'may be.' If she had said 'I think this is out of your price range because you are black,' I would be totally pissed off. My exes mother was pretty racist towards me (for being white) so it does go the other way. She had opinions on me and I gave her the benefit of the doubt and asked why she thought that way, she told me 'because you are white.'

OP posts:
theodorakisses · 09/08/2013 17:46

Really? I am not saying that they weren't not having been there but living in the Middle East, people seem to have a radar for serious buyers rather than tourists. Did the worker actually refuse her on grounds of race? I have been treated as both scum and a VIP by those people depending on what we were wearing. The best I was ever treated was by a guy in Gucci, I tried on a zillion pairs of shoes before buying a pair of flip flops. After woods realised I had a Big Mac stain all down my top.

difficultpickle · 09/08/2013 17:46

She's not famous in Switzerland - her show isn't screened there.

I've been followed by the security guard in M&S and I didn't think that was racist. More that I'd popped into town in my gardening gear and probably looked as if I couldn't afford anything. He followed me up to the till and I think was surprised when I produced a card for payment. I thought it was funny. Having said that I'd take a different view if I experienced that sort of treatment on a daily basis.

Original poster
fackinell · 09/08/2013 17:46

Gordy, the only reason I can think of that she wasn't screaming wealth, perhaps. No balenciaga (sp?) bag etc. I can look like a bag of shite some days and don't wear much in the way of labels. I could have easily said this posh London boutique owner had though I couldn't afford it because I am Scottish and by stereotype considered tight. That is racism too but I put it down to looking scruffy.

OP posts:
VivaLeBeaver · 09/08/2013 17:48

How was she dressed? If she was dressed in tracksuit bottoms and a tshirt like in the photo of her in Zurich in the DM I'm not surprised they said she couldn't afford it.

It's like Pretty Woman isn't it. I wouldn't go in somewhere like a Gucci shop and ask to look at stuff as I'd be scared they'd laugh me out the shop!

chibi · 09/08/2013 17:50

maybe she was wearing a binbag, had grease stains all over her clothes and was wearing her 'i have no money at all' emblazoned hat.

yes. that was probably it.

Bakingnovice · 09/08/2013 17:51

You haven't heard a racist comment from an under 40?!!! Lucky you. I don't think a week has passed in my life when I haven't heard or seen racism. Oh, and yabu. Don't you think Oprah would know if she was encountering racism or not?

thebody · 09/08/2013 17:53

'you haven't heard a racist comment from anyone over 40'??

that's a silly comment in itself. I am over 40 and don't make racist comments but have heard some from dcs friends and their parents ALL of whom are in 20s and 30s.

not everyone over 40 is a thick daily mail reading twat you know. just as not everyone under 40 is a free thinking liberal.

Oprah was right to talk and hope the store is named and shamed.

she should have gone primark.

coffeeinbed · 09/08/2013 17:54

The way the manager defends the staff actually confirms oprah's story.
The SA wanted to show less expensive bags but it was a misunderstanding.
How?
Not surprised, I've had some dismal service there.

TabithaStephens · 09/08/2013 17:55

I'm sure plenty of white people of shabby appearance get treated the same in snobby shops like this. It might be racism but I don't see how Oprah Winfrey knows this for sure unless the staff used racist language, which as far as I know they didn't.

In any case why is Oprah wasting her money on overpriced tat anyway?

chibi · 09/08/2013 18:00

wealthy person in attempted luxury item shocker

why wasn't she down the market, why indeed not

LeGavrOrf · 09/08/2013 18:00

I presume that anybody who assumes that racist comments would not be made in Switzerland has never been to Switzerland. Huge amounts of quite blatant racism there ime,

FreudiansSlipper · 09/08/2013 18:03

YABU

do you not think an intelligent woman like Oprah can sense when someone is discriminating against her because of her colour

and people who are shabbily dressed do not necessarily get treated the same way plenty of shabbily dressed very wealthy people about

mynewpassion · 09/08/2013 18:06

Its true she was not dripping in Gucci only Donna Karen.

MmeLindor · 09/08/2013 18:10

Oprah was smartly dressed.

I spoke with a twitter friend who said that this store was known for being extremely snooty, so perhaps it was just that.

The Swiss generally don't have a good reputation when it comes to racism (I lived there and witnessed racist behaviour many times), but in Zurich they are used to customers who are both wealthy and from ethnic minorities, so either way the saleswoman was daft.

MmeLindor · 09/08/2013 18:11

XP with LeGavrOrf

Agree totally.

theodorakisses · 09/08/2013 18:11

I actually hate Ellen. Having been exposed to US tv for the last ten years, she is a twat of the highest order. Doesn't make me a lesbian hater, just a hater of idiots.