Oprah Winfrey has apologized for naming Switzerland in the alleged racism she encountered in Zurich, while shopping for a bag. She was in the country for attending the marriage of Tina Turner. The store manager had claimed that it was a case of misunderstanding.

Oprah in an interview had said that a sales clerk in a shop refused to show her a bag she had asked for, saying it was too expensive.

It is a general form of prejudice where a sales executive would refuse to show an item to people belonging to a particular race, considering them to be poor. Another form is to follow people of a particular race around the shop for an unfounded fear that they may steal something just because they belong to a certain race.

Although cases of racism are sometimes reported, it is surprising to people that a celebrity with such renown as Oprah could be subjected to racism. Oprah, who became famous as a talk show host, is a billionaire and one of the world's richest African Americans. She owns her own television network and her net worth is over $ 2 billion. She is also known for her philanthropic work.

The public outrage and the media coverage of this issue created quite a storm for the shop and particularly the sales clerk. The sales clerk has since then come out and shared her side of the story with a Swiss Newspaper.

The media response of the incident has given the sales clerk sleepless nights. She felt that the incident did not occur as Oprah had described it and says that it is a misunderstanding. She said she would like to apologize to Oprah if she were to meet her.

"I think that incident in Switzerland was just an incident in Switzerland," said Oprah, speaking at the premier of her movie Lee Daniels' "The Butler". She also apologized for the media "blow up" of the issue.

It remains to be seen if this apology from Oprah will put to rest the racism story. The shop owner and the sales clerk from Switzerland would surely be relieved to see the end of this unfortunate incident.