Last week, Oprah Winfrey revealed that while she was in Switzerland, she encountered racism.  Despite her ever growing net worth and the fact that she made $77 Million last year alone, she was told a purse was expensive and that someone like her couldn't afford it, in an act of racism.  Since then, she has tweeted about the incident, and the salesperson from Trois Pomme has stepped forward anonomously to discuss the incident.

After news hit, Winfrey tweeted the following:

Then:

While in Switzerland for Tina Turner's wedding, Winfrey left her hotel to do a little shopping, according toUSA Today.

"I didn't have my eyelashes on but I was in full Oprah Winfrey gear ... but obviously the Oprah Winfrey show is not shown in Zurich," Winfrey said to Entertainment Tonight's Nancy O'Dell.

She was by herself and went into a shop and wanted to look at a handbag, "She says to me, no, it's too expensive," Winfrey said of the salesperson.  She also said the woman told her she "would not be able to afford that." The salesperson refused to give her the purse.

According to the interview, Winfrey left the store without making a fuss, deciding it was better to leave empty-handed than give the employee commission.  Winfrey declined to mention the shop name in her interview, but now the salesperson from Trois Pomme has stepped forward anonomously and says the claims are false, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"I don't know why she is making these accusations. She is so powerful, and I am just a shop girl," the sales clerk told the Swiss newspaper SonntagsBlick, according to a translation from London's Daily Mail. 

"This is not true. This is absurd. I would never say something like that to a customer. Really, never. Good manners and politeness are the Alpha and the Omega in this business," the woman toldSonntagsBlick.

"It is absolutely not true that I declined to show her the bag on racist grounds. I even asked her if she wanted to look at the bag," the woman said.

"I didn't hurt anyone. I don't know why someone as great as her must cannibalize me on TV. ... If it had all taken place as she claimed, why has she not complained the next day at the wedding of Tina Turner with Trudie Goetz, my boss? She was there also at the Turner wedding as a guest. I don't understand it. ... I spoke to Oprah Winfrey in English. My English is OK but not excellent, unfortunately. ... I didn't know who she was when she came into the store. That wouldn't have made any difference if I had."

Some of the media is claiming that Winfrey's accusations are perfectly timed, coinciding with her promotion of Lee Daniels' "The Butler," a movie largely about the black civil rights movement.

Winfrey did speak about the incident while at last night's premiere in Los Angeles.

"I think that incident in Switzerland was just an incident in Switzerland," the 59-year-old said. "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." 

"It's not an indictment against the country, or even that store. It's just one person who didn't want to offer me the opportunity to see the bag," she said. 

Winfrey also discussed the context surrounding why she spoke about the incident in the first place, according to E! Online.

"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 said. "Nobody's gonna call me the N-word to my face unless they're a thug on Twitter or Facebook. It doesn't show up that way. It shows up for me differently: I'm in a store...and they make an assessment based upon the way I look and who I am." 

Since the incident, the Swiss tourism office has issued an apology.

"We are very sorry for what happened to her," said Daniela Baer, a spokesperson for the Swiss tourism office, while speaking to the Associated Press.

"This person acted terribly wrong," the tourism office stated on their Twitter.

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