Trois Pommes denies racism, swipes at Oprah’s regrettable diva tendencies

by Staff Writer

August 13, 2013 (TSR) – Trois Pommes Store owner Trudie Goertz denies racism towards Oprah and insists her sales assistant did ‘everything right and in perfect service’ by offering the customer the whole range of bags when she asked to see the $38,000 bag at the Swiss store, Mail Online reports.

Goertz who was a guest at Tina Turner’s wedding and regularly featured in the society pages of Swiss newspapers and magazines, took a swipe at Oprah’s diva tendencies, saying that  international stars like to be ‘left in peace’ in her country, Switzerland.

“Unlike Oprah – in Europe, famous people liked to be treated like ordinary citizens,” Goetz said.

Goetz, who was ironically also a guest at the wedding of Tina Turner and regularly features in the society pages of Swiss newspapers and magazines, saw Oprah at Tina’s wedding but only knew her from TV.  They didn’t speak, and now unfortunately since then, this is played out before the entire world.

“She is so very sensitive. I repeat once again; my saleslady only meant well because she wanted to show other bags to Oprah. To demonstrate the whole range is, for me, a perfect service. I find it regrettable that Oprah has come to this service from exactly the wrong way. I hope the business will not suffer as a result of this. I hope I can speak with Oprah to resolve the situation personally, as quickly as possible”, she said.

Last night, Oprah, who earned $77m last year, according to Forbes, gave an interview on the red carpet of The Butler, in which she has a role.

She said: ‘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,’ she said.

‘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!’

Ironically, Oprah also came under fire today from the Swiss animal rights group Four Paws (Vier Pfoten) which slammed her for wanting to buy a crocodile skin bag and called on Trois Pommes to withdraw the item from sale.

Oprah is an avowed animal rights spokeswoman.  PETA,  the world’s largest animal rights group, named her “person of the year” in 2008 after she spoke out against the wearing of fur.