Oprah Winfrey said Monday she was denied service at a store in Zurich, Switzerland, because an employee said Winfrey couldn't afford the bag she inquired about.

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"I was in Zurich the other day, at a store whose name I will not mention. I didn't have my eyelashes on, but I was in full Oprah Winfrey gear. I had my little Donna Karan skirt and my little sandals on. But obviously The Oprah Winfrey Show is not shown in Zurich," Winfrey told Entertainment Tonight.

The talk show host said that when she insisted on seeing the bag, the Trois Pommes' employee said she couldn't afford it. She went into a retail store and asked the saleswoman "Excuse me, may I see the bag right above your head?" and the reply she received was "No. It's too expensive."

Winfrey said she abstained from what would have been a justified outburst, but said the incident was driven by racism.

"There's two different ways to handle it. I could've had the whole blow-up thing and thrown down the (American Express) black card, and all that stuff but why do that? But (racism) still exists, of course it does," Winfrey said.

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The Owner of the Trois Pommes store, Trudie Gotz, claimed Winfrey's description of the encounter is inaccurate. She said the billionaire media mogul was "absolutely allowed" to look at the $35,000 bag, which was kept behind a screen, according to BBC.

"My salesperson wanted to give her the handbag in her hand. But she didn't want to take the bag," claimed Gotz.

The storeowner said her employee worked in the store for a few years and has assisted some of the most "spoilt customers from all over the world," so the run-in with Winfrey must have been a misunderstanding.

I didn't take care of [Winfrey]. I'm sure she felt like this - but my salesgirl promised me she took care of [her] really the best she could. So it must have been a misunderstanding," she said. "She tried to show Mrs. Oprah the same style in other qualities, because maybe she didn't understand what she wanted."

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