Oprah Winfrey claimed last week that she was the victim of a seemingly racist attack by a store clerk in Switzerland. Nearly ten days ago (5 August), the Queen of chat was speaking with Entertainment Weekly when she recalled a recent experience at an exclusive handbag boutique in Zurich - whose identity she chose not to reveal, although it later turned out to be the glitzy Trois Pommes - which sparked a media frenzy across much of the globe and calls for an explanation from the store clerk and the store manager.

Oprah Winfrey
Oprah has since backed down from the racism row

An explanation is exactly what we got too, and it was one that pleaded the store's innocence and that the whole ordeal was a big misunderstanding, something that even Oprah is starting to agree with. Trudie Goetz, the manager of the Zurich boutique, spoke to CNN to say that the entire incident was a "200 percent misunderstanding" and was in no way to do with racism. Similarly, the woman who served Oprah in Trois Pommes and supposedly declined her permission to see a handbag that was being kept behind the counter has also given her side of the story, again saying that there was a misunderstand between the two, which was most likely caused by her poor grasp of English. Speaking to Swiss paper SonntagsBlick, the shop assistant said, "I wasn't sure what I should present to her when she came in on the afternoon of Saturday July 20 so I showed her some bags from the Jennifer Aniston collection. I explained to her the bags came in different sizes and materials, like I always do."

Oprah Winfrey The Butler
She didn't want the incident to get blown up as much as it has done

During the Los Angeles premiere of her new film The Butler on Monday (12 August), Oprah was again quizzed on the occurrence, this time saying that the whole thing had been blown out of proportion and that it probably was nothing short of a misunderstanding. She told reporters, "I think that incident in Switzerland was just an incident in Switzerland. I'm really sorry that it got blown up. I purposely did not mention the name of the store. I'm sorry that I said it was Switzerland. I was just referencing it as an example of being in a place where people don't expect that you would be able to be there."

In her latest acting role, Oprah portrays the wife of Cecil Gains (Forest Whitaker), the devoted and long-serving butler to the White House. The Butler will be released 16 August in the US and Canada.

Watch the trailer for The Butler