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honey


Gucci

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RE: Luxury store apologizes to Oprah
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this fascinates me... although i am not a regular oprah watcher, i've always respected her in the sense that i think she does her best to make the world a better place. so based on that fact alone i want to give her the benefit of the doubt and believe that there is a legitimate reason for all this hoopla. however i'm troubled by two things the whole "this is oprah's crash moment" and the fact that she's refusing to issue any comment other than that until her show comes back on her.


as far as calling it oprah's crash moment -- i don't know. what seems clear is that there was no "n.african comment" which means to me that it wasn't blatant. but racism can take so many forms. as a black woman (had to pull the race card) i'm all too familiar with the more subtle forms of racism. the crazy part is that after a certain point it gets hard to differentiate b/c some things are so ingrained in our culture/heads. i've been in stores b/f where the security gaurd has followed me around (this happened to me in barney's about 2 weeks ago) and it's bugged me out b/c i couldn't tell why, and there was a part of me that was like oh is it because i'm black. but there was also a part of me that was like that's crazy b/c we've (supposedly) come so far that in this day and age this shouldn't happen. but honestly i couldn't tell, and if i had brought money with me, i probably would've ended up buying something just to prove (the question being who am i trying to prove this point too) that i wasn't there to steal. so i can understand where she's coming from in the sense that all your past experiences have f**cked with your head. 


however in this situation i'm kind of like it's oprah. maybe i'm overestimating her reach but i feel like they knew it was her. it's not as though she was some random black woman. if she were, then maybe i'd be more inclined to say race, but i don't know. plus hermes did have a totally legitimate reason for saying no, even if you don't agree with it/think it's bad business practice (i''m sure someone is losing lots of sleep over this b/c of all the negative pr) it's still completely within their right to reject her, and that has nothing to do with race.


but what really disappoints me is that she's waiting until sept. to discuss it. if i were oprah and had a whole "crash" moment, i'd be having a sitdown with barbara walters asap to discuss all the ways that hermes sucked, not waiting until i could tie it in with my show. which just makes me wonder if it's just a lot of bullshit b/c she probably got her ego knocked down a notch or two. 



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blink


Coach

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Thanks for posting more about Oprah's reaction...


But I still don't think she's egotistical for speaking out, and I agree with Esquiress that if there is a chance that her being shut out was an incidence of racism, the store's president should have been notified.



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dc


Dooney & Bourke

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My comment about Oprah's ego is the sum of many impressions I have gotten of her, not just this one incident.  And I am operating under the assumption that this was not the result of racism (like Robin Givhan, who wrote the article I posted, and who is also - it bears saying - African American).  From that perspective, yes, she is overreacting.  I am sorry, but the "crash" moment thing seems like hyperbole.  Being refused entry to a luxury store is not the equivalent of police mistreatment on the streets of LA.  Yeah, if it's based on race - and there is absolutely nothing to support that - it's bullshit.  But "crash" moment? 


That said, I think it is always helpful and necessary to have a debate about race.  In a country where 11 republican senators just refused to co-sponsor an apology for lynching, and where a man is convicted only of manslaughter in a premeditated hate crime (years later, when we ought to know better), there is much work to be done on the race front.  Not just because of big problems like those, but for the more localized things that happen every day. 


Honey raises valid points as well. I am not black, so I can't say I even know how that feels, and her point about assuming that the mistreatment is because of race when that has been your prior experience is a valid one and well-taken. 


I simply do not believe - from everything I have read - that race played a part in this particular incident, and I stand by what I said about her ego and being out of touch (again, due to this and a number of other things).  I think she's just been taken down a peg and she's grasping at straws to make sense of how anyone would dare refuse Madame Oprah.



-- Edited by dc at 13:32, 2005-06-24

-- Edited by dc at 16:50, 2005-06-24

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joy0302


Kate Spade

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Unless the Hermes store made a direct racial comment I do not think that it is fair to the company to publicize such a claim. I have always loved Oprah, I never miss her show. She is someone I have always respected.


 To me it is just wrong though to automatically assume someone would not let you in after hours because of the color of your skin. I am in no way naive to racism. I have seen and experienced first hand how racism works, but I don't think that is something that should be so freely thrown out there.


This is a prime example of celebrities thinking they are owed everything. Most people would have walked up, been turned away, and went somewhere else. Oprah is making national news and a big stink about it. It is just ridiculous! I would not have let her in either and for one reason; just because she is Oprah she is no better than anyone else. If the closing time is 6:30. I would lock the door at 6:30 and let no one in. I wouldn't turn away an unknown person who wanted to buy something and then turn around and let Oprah in. That would not be good customer service either.


Oprah needs to get a life and have her driver get her there a little faster next time. She should have respect for the people who work in Hermes. They have a life too, and should be able to get out of there when their shift is over. I think they did not even owe her an apology. I would have said " I am sorry Mrs. Winfrey that you were unaware of the fact that our store closed at 6:30"!!! Celebrities-they are a different breed!!!



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lsubatgirl


Gucci

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joy0302 wrote:

 This is a prime example of celebrities thinking they are owed everything. Most people would have walked up, been turned away, and went somewhere else. Oprah is making national news and a big stink about it. It is just ridiculous! I would not have let her in either and for one reason; just because she is Oprah she is no better than anyone else. If the closing time is 6:30. I would lock the door at 6:30 and let no one in. I wouldn't turn away an unknown person who wanted to buy something and then turn around and let Oprah in. That would not be good customer service either.

I agree.  If the store closes at 6:30 then it closes at 6:30.  Make other arrangements if you need to purchase something.  I worked at a local batting cage place for 5 years and when it was time to open I would open the doors at the proper time and when it was time to close I would lock the door and that would be it.  I didn't care if you were one of our regular customers or not.  I had things to do in order to open the place or close it and it had to be done when no one was there and I didn't want to be there all night.  I also had a life outside of my job and people need to respect that.  I'm sure Oprah wouldn't delay her show if I was running late for it so I could make it on time or keep it going if I was enjoying it so why should she expect Hermes to stay open for her if she couldn't make it on time! 



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