[Goober5000]

So wait, the shop assistant posts her story and we all instantly believe it?

Apparently, when Oprah posted her story, y'all instantly believed it.

[karajorma]

She has very little reason to lie. I'm sure she's encountered enough racism in her life to not need to manufacture a story.

Quite apart from that, what kind of ****ty salesperson deliberately shows a customer cheaper bags than the one they were interested in?

[NGTM-1R]

Apparently, when Oprah posted her story, y'all instantly believed it.

Oprah doesn't make stuff up on her own.  While her show eagerly gulps down psuedoscience and falsehood, she's never been the source, only an enabler.

She also has very little reason to create a controversy here. She's filthy rich and getting richer, master of media empire, etc. Lying can't help her reach a wider audience or otherwise enhance her career; it can only hurt her.

[Goober5000]

She has plenty of reason to lie.  She makes money from media and publicity.  And wouldn't you agree that no matter how much money or publicity a person has, they always want more?

And in turn, there are plenty of reasons to believe the salesperson:

The saleslady went on: '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.

'I don't know why she is making these accusations. She is so powerful and I am just a shop girl.  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.'

'We work really hard to greet all the people who come into the store with the same level of respect and treat them all equally. If someone asks me whether he or she can see an article, I always present these. Because that person is a potential buyer. And my job is to sell it. I'm glad if I can sell an article. It is a reward for me, if I can sell a nice piece. This means that I'm good at my job.'

Also, the best lies have an element of truth.  Rather than make up her story out of whole cloth, Oprah probably took a true event and then augmented it with a racist statement.

And according to the salesperson, she didn't show Oprah cheaper bags than the ones she wanted.  Read the article: she offered to show Oprah the more expensive bags, but Oprah left the room.

[Lorric]

Also, the best lies have an element of truth.

For my own reasons, that go beyond this thread, I would like everyone to fix this statement firmly in their minds please.

[StarSlayer]

Stuff

Oprah Winfrey isn't exactly some has been teen starlet desperately flailing about public in order to get some air time on TMZ.  Oprah Winfrey has an empire, there isn't much need for fabricating some stunt to get press.   Besides "Why didn't she cause a scene at her friend's wedding over it" is hardly a valid argument.

[NGTM-1R]

She makes money from media and publicity.

Oprah Winfrey owns a television network.

Let me repeat that.

She owns a television network.

And you think the best way she has to create publicity is to talk about a racist incident in a foreign country. You are saying that Rupert Murdoch would be reduced to acting like Kardashian if he wanted to stir up some publicity. That's dumb, Goob. There's no nicer, politer way to put it. Millions of people watch her talk show, millions more her network, a few million probably pick up her magazine. She's got an independent voice like very few people in the world do. If Oprah wants to create publicity, she's just got to pick up a phone and put herself on the cover of that magazine in my supermarket checkout aisle again, wearing a ridiculous afro.

In the meantime, your quotation instead illustrates the opposite, that the girl has every reason to lie because she has no other resource at her disposal to defend herself with save an ability to tell a story.

[Lorric]

I was actually going to end my post with "So Lorric was right" but didn't want to set off a flame war.  But yes, Lorric, with his cautious "let's not jump to conclusions" approach, was right.

(And to those forumites who are going to reflexively leap to defend themselves, citing the previously published story, you were judging based on incomplete information.  Racism is easy to condemn if you first assume racism.)

Goober, I actually think you got this right with the bolded part, rather than lies. A misunderstanding, confirmation bias kicking in for Oprah, and there you go. No lies.

[Klaustrophobia]

yall keep saying she doesn't need publicity, it would only hurt her, etc... but look at it.  it worked.  not saying that's definitely the reason behind it, **** if i know, but it IS the result.  how many of you gave the slightest **** about what oprah was up to before this came out?  yeah she has a TV network.  raise your hand if you've watched it.  or even GET it.  how many times has the name Oprah Winfrey even crossed your mind in the past, i don't know, six months?  now all KINDS of people are crying "oh how horrible this celebrity encountered a 'racist' salesperson!"

[NGTM-1R]

how many times has the name Oprah Winfrey even crossed your mind in the past, i don't know, six months?

Every time I buy groceries, as I already indicated.

[Black Wolf]

I'm just going to leave this here

Even if she doesn't need the publicity for her movie, it and the issues of racism it discusses probably have been on her mind a lot while she's been promoting it. Doesn't mean the shop girls wasn't racist, but it does seem to suggest Oprah might have been primed for confirmation bias to kick in. Combine that with the almost certain language issues between the two of them and it seems very possible that this was a pure misunderstanding.

[Lorric]

I'm just going to leave this here

Even if she doesn't need the publicity for her movie, it and the issues of racism it discusses probably have been on her mind a lot while she's been promoting it. Doesn't mean the shop girls wasn't racist, but it does seem to suggest Oprah might have been primed for confirmation bias to kick in. Combine that with the almost certain language issues between the two of them and it seems very possible that this was a pure misunderstanding.

Most interesting... I had no idea about that.

[karajorma]

I just find it amusing that the same people who kept insisting "Keep an open mind, it might not be racism", have suddenly leapt wholeheartedly onto the "She's a publicity seeking *****" bandwagon.

What I find especially funny is they are doing that based on a story from the Daily Mail!

[An4ximandros]

Annnd... that's exactly why I've been avoiding this thread like the plague.

[Lorric]

What I find especially funny is they are doing that based on a story from the Daily Mail!

The Mail isn't the source. This is:

http://www.blick.ch/people-tv/international/ich-kann-seit-tagen-nicht-mehr-schlafen-id2402940.html

[The E]

Blick isn't as disreputable a source as the Daily Fail, but still not exactly trustworthy.

[Flipside]

It does remind me of a time where Sharon and I went to London to buy some audio equipment and we sat down for 5 minutes on the steps of a shop only to get an employee come out and tell us to move. My Solution was to go into the shop and wave 500 pounds in the managers face, telling her she wouldn't see a penny of it now because of the behaviour of her staff.

Last I saw of the employee they were going into the Managers office

[Phantom Hoover]

Blick isn't as disreputable a source as the Daily Fail, but still not exactly trustworthy.

what does 'trustworthy' even mean here, are you saying they fabricated statements from this woman?

[The E]

Blick isn't as disreputable a source as the Daily Fail, but still not exactly trustworthy.

what does 'trustworthy' even mean here, are you saying they fabricated statements from this woman?

Not exactly. Right now, we can't tell which version of the story is the truth, and as a tabloid, they have an interest in embellishing the truth in order to get the most drama out of the story.
In the interview, the woman in question describes it all as a nightmare she just wants to get away from, and says she doesn't know how this has all happened, that it was all a misunderstanding.
I am somewhat inclined to believe her when she says this.

That does not, however, invalidate the discussion we had over systemic and entrenched classism and racism.

[karajorma]

When it comes to the Daily Mail, they do flat out invent stuff. That's why I always laugh when they are quoted as a new source.