I thought the whole fiasco with Oprah and Hermes of Paris was ridiculous.

If you didn't read my post on it, I'll summarize here:

Oprah was rude and inconsiderate to show up 15 minutes after closing time and expect the special treatment of being allowed to enter the store for her own private shopping. Had she called in advance so they knew to expect her, that might have been different, but as it was, she showed up unannounced, after closing time, and Hermes was preparing for a private function.

Bottom line: Oprah, and NOT Hermes, was wrong.

But Hermes apologized in a public forum to her highness anyway (the French do a lot of apologizing when it comes to a righteous battle, it seems).

I was disappointed in Oprah for making a big deal about it (especially when it was clearly her fault that she didn't get to shop - I mean, had she called ahead, rather than just expecting everyone to know who she is on sight and change all their plans for her convenience...)

Now I'm even more disappointed, because Oprah and friends are playing the race card.

What gives, Oprah? This isn't about race, and to say it is (should be) beneath you. You know better. You know damn well that Hermes would love to sell you overpriced stuff and would more than likely greet you with a red carpet and all sorts of bowing and adoration. But YOU chose to come after closing time. YOU chose not to give them any advance notice (it's not like you don't have a cell phone!) And now YOU are choosing to use the RACE card.

Get a clue, Oprah. If this white woman walked up to the Hermes door after closing time, smartly dressed and with two smartly dressed companions, you know they wouldn't reopen the store (especially when preparing for a private event). So why should they stop everything they are doing and make special allowances for Oprah?

Pretty much everyone who shops at Hermes has money. So they if they reopened their store every time someone with a full purse knocked after hours, they would not have a closing time.

It wasn't bad enough that Oprah and friends acted like spoiled brats with a confrontation outside Hermes, now she's thrown the race card into the fray.

"The presumption in America is that if you have the wealth, you'll get equality - but where's Oprah's equality?" argues Bruce D. Haynes, a sociologist at UC. "It picks up on every inkling of discrimination that a black person might experience in daily life."

Excuse me, Bruce, but the evidence of the equality was that Hermes turned away Oprah because they were closed and preparing for a special, private event - just like they would have turned away anyone else. Bringing race into this is petty and small. And S.T.U.P.I.D.

Her goes further. "She's like the black Donald Trump. And if it can happen to Oprah, it could happen to anyone."

Duh. Betcha there have been scores of wealthy white women turned away from the Hermes door when they showed up late. And unannounced. So it's already happened to "anyone."

Oprah and her buds say they saw shoppers inside (apparently, this is reason enough for them to unlock the doors and let Oprah and co. in). But stores often lock their doors while the last of their customers finish up their shopping. Obviously, if Oprah Winfrey had shown up at 6:29pm, she would have gotten to stay after hours and shop. But she showed up at 6:45 (15 minutes after closing).

Harriet Cole, author of "How To Be", weighs in. "Unfortunately, this proves how deeply ingrained in global culture racism is. There is the assumption that a black persona has no place in a luxury establishment, cannot afford to buy the luxury item."

Bullshit, Harriet. Everyone - even the French - know that Madam Winfrey has bookoo-millions. Everyone knows that she shops at stores like Hermes and that she can afford anything and everything she wants.

She was NOT turned away because she was black. She was turned away because she showed up after closing time when the store was PREPARING FOR A PRIVATE EVENT, and because she hadn't been considerate and polite enough to call ahead and see if it would be all right if she dropped by late.

And the comments keep coming.

Luke Visconti, co-founder of DiversityInc in NJ said Hermes "blew it to a degree that's hard to imagine. It's clearly bigoted." Then he added, "Think about all those people who have been oppressed (by this kind of behavior) who are going to be sympathetic to Oprah and not go back there."

I don't know, Luke. The wealthy black people I know (who could afford to go to Hermes in the first place), are cultured and well-mannered people. They don't expect special treatment just because they are wealthy or well-known. They respect little things like a company's closing time, a working man's personal time with their family, and the fact that the world doesn't revolve around them.

A friend of mine and I were talking today at work, and she's a huge Oprah fan (and black, if that makes a difference), and she thinks Oprah's acting "a bit full of herself" in this instance.

This part of the AP article I read today was interesting. Emil Wilbekin, former editor of Vibe, said it's not uncommong for black celebs to receive poor treatment at high-end stores, but that Sean "P.Diddy" Combs has in own tactic to avoid poor treatment.

Oprah, are you listening?

"Puffy sends his people AHEAD to the store and shuts them down so he can shop provately, so this kind of thing doesn't happen."

Wow, imagine that. Puffy respects the store employees enough to send someone in while they are OPEN FOR BUSINESS, and then has the store shut down (I assume providing the store isn't running a special, private event at that particular moment).

Oprah, as  someone who's watched your show since 1986, I'm so disappointed in you.

Maybe you should re-evaluate the situation, and ask yourself honestly if you would have allowed Hermes management into your studio if they showed up unannounced while you were preparing for a private event that didn't include them.

I'm pretty certain the answer is that you wouldn't - there are people who have worked for you over the years that have never been permitted the honor of meeting you and whose names you don't even know (yes, I'm speaking with knowledge here), so why would we expect you to drop everything for a mere manager of a boutique?

It would be one thing if you were turned away because you are black. But this is NOT one of those situations. You were turned away because you were late and the store had its own event to get ready for, that was planned well before you showed up at the door.

Don't lower yourself to playing the race card in a situation that has absolutely NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE.

Hm...I agree with a conservative for once! I fully agree with everything you said. Two weeks ago, this was just about Oprah not getting into the store. Now, she and her friends have thrown in the race card and it makes me shameful to be a black female. As someone who grew up with very little, you would think Oprah would be a little more humble, rather than thinking the world show move to her beat. Not only that, everyone is acting like someone died. She was not allowed into a store after hours. Get over yourself Oprah! I've worked in retail and there's nothing that annoys us more than people who come close to closing or after closing and expect to get into the store. We have lives and would like to go home too!

Had Oprah been followed in the store or gone to the store during regular hours and not been allowed in, I would question Hermes' policies, but that's not the case. This is just one more reason for the world to look at us and laugh at how self-righteous and over-privileged we are. I wonder how this story is being played out in Paris.

UVA Girl: your take on this is what I'm getting overwhelmingly from everyone I've talked to; male, female, black, white and everything in between.

I totally believe that racial discrimination needs to be tackled when it exists, but I just don't see it here.

christmas invitation wording for party christmas band lyrics wallpaper simpson christmas jessica christmas page christian coloring and crafts christmas arts elementary christmas farms pennsylvania tree in minnesota farm tree christmas i by ll lyrics be christmas home aly for free presents christmas history christmas stocking exchange games christmas list to christmas my grown this is lyrics up girls cheap christmas gifts for wallpaper christmas carol christmas script index Wednesday, November 28th 2007 @ 12:59 AM