Oprah Winfrey 'sorry' she named Switzerland in racism anecdote

When Oprah Winfrey told Entertainment Tonight that an upmarket Zurich boutique had given her the "Pretty Woman" treatment and refused to show her a $38,000 handbag, she only intended it to be an example of how racism is not always as in-your-face as the N-word.

"[Racism] shows up for me differently, it shows up [when] I'm in a store and the person doesn't obviously know that I carry the 'black card' and so they make an assessment based upon the way I look and who I am," she told CNN at the Los Angeles premiere of "Lee Daniels' The Butler."

Winfrey said she was sorry that her anecdote had caused an international fracas and prompted an apology from Swiss Tourism.

"I purposely did not mention the name of the store. I'm sorry that I said it was Switzerland," the 59-year-old media mogul said on the red carpet.

"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," she added.

It's not an indictment against the country or even that store. It was just, you know, one person who didn't want to offer me the opportunity to see the bag. So no apology necessary from the country, from Switzerland!