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[shuri]

I don't think that Hermes needs publicity in mainstream media, it's a pretty posh brand and having big american celebrities would look kitch as fuck to them. I watch a lot of french shows and american celebrities are kinda seen as tools in them, they don't really think of them as anything special.

Hermes would have said fuck off to Ophra or to even fucking Depardieu if he showed up on his motorcycle.

I would never have thought that Winfrey would have played the racist card with them. I'm surprised and also dissapointed. Although France has massive racism problems (it has always been like that, but it has gotten worse in the past 10 years), I highly doubt that an high class store like that would even entertaining the idea of doing something like that to Ophra on a racist basis.

 

[LakeEarth]

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Oprah-s-Racial-Incident-already-cost-Hermes-6000-3774.shtml

Gayle King, the woman who was escorting Oprah Winfrey's on her shopping session in Paris, confessed to ET magazine that Oprah said it was "one of the most humiliating moments of her life".

Last week Oprah Winfrey wanted to shop from designer bag store Hermes, but was turned away by shop assistants, who argued that they had been "having problems with North Africans".

"It was almost like a scene out of Crash". "We joke about it being Oprah's Crash moment, but it wasn't a joke."

"I saw it, and it was really, really very bad," she said. "Oprah describes it as one of the most humiliating moments of her life."

King also said that that Winfrey has canceled an order for a Birkin bag. Birkin is the handmade bag that Hermes is famous for, which costs $6000.


=\ I guess there is more to the story. But 6000 dollars for a fucking purse! WTF

I knew there had to be more to it.

EDIT - but man what a monumental error. Not only to offend a big name celebrity, but to piss off the richest woman in the world?? Whoops!

 

[DarienA]

Yes all the original news article mention that... but... let's be real here.......anyone who can specifically identify a North African is also capable of realizing that Oprah with her processed hair looks nothing like a North African.

And Lake Earth.. you haven't read the full story... there are two version:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062302086.html


On Wednesday, the New York Daily News weighed in with a different version of the story, saying Winfrey arrived just after the store had closed at 6:30 p.m. and there was no doubt about her identity. She saw shoppers still milling about inside and asked the Hermes staff at the door if she could dash in to make a quick purchase. A clerk said no, and so did a store manager. An unnamed "friend" quoted in the Daily News didn't use the term racism but suggested that if Celine Dion or Barbra Streisand had made a similar request, there wouldn't have been a problem. In this telling of the tale, the entire population of northern Africa was not maligned.

AND

A spokeswoman at Winfrey's Harpo Productions confirmed the Daily News version of the story,


So no the North African part did not happen.... keep up with the attempted DC though....

 

[LakeEarth]

Hey, I didn't find that article, I just quoted it.

 

[karasu]

What a joke.

 

[CabbageRed]

It's all well and good to try and laugh this off but if black people are beginning to realize that Operation: Closing Hours is a charade to enforce a curfew on minorities, then we may have to rethink our strategy. With the Latino population on the rise in the US, perhaps black people should be let into The Council.

 

[DarienA]

It's all well and good to try and laugh this off but if black people are beginning to realize that Operation: Closing Hours is a charade to enforce a curfew on minorities, then we may have to rethink our strategy. With the Latino population on the rise in the US, perhaps black people should be let into The Council.

:lol :lol :lol :lol

 

[olimario]

The store has changed its story 3 times.

 

[DarienA]

The store has changed its story 3 times.

Oprah herself probably doesn't even remember exactly what happened....

 

[The Faceless Master]

well, this whole oprah thing doesn bring up an issue i hate...

if i go into some random store where there's stuff on shelves.. i may get followed around etc...

but if i walk into circuit city or best buy or any other electronics scote to buy something, it's like the people there just go out of their way to avoid me, as if i'm not gonna buy anything...

:/

 

[ManDudeChild]

It's all well and good to try and laugh this off but if black people are beginning to realize that Operation: Closing Hours is a charade to enforce a curfew on minorities, then we may have to rethink our strategy. With the Latino population on the rise in the US, perhaps black people should be let into The Council.

Classic :lol