A story getting a lot of attention in Hollywood these days is Oprah’s recent visit to Switzerland.  Lady O was racially profiled while visiting an upscale boutique in Switzerland when the incident occurred.  Find out more here.

Oprah Winfrey-youtube
Oprah Winfrey-youtube
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In a recent interview with "Entertainment Tonight," Oprah recalled asking the clerk if she could see a handbag behind the counter.  To her surprise, the clerk refuse to show it to her and told her she could not afford the $38,000 purse.

Oprah said, "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."  Little did the lady know, Oprah is worth BILLIONS and earned $77 million last year alone, according to Forbes magazine.

Oprah continued, "I didn't have anything that said, 'I have money.' I wasn't wearing a diamond stud. I didn't have a pocketbook. I didn't wear Louboutin shoes. I didn't have anything," said Winfrey on the red carpet. "You should be able to go in a store looking like whatever you look like and say, 'I'd like to see this.' That didn't happen."

Since her interview, some people in the media have expressed their discomfort with Oprah talking about her recent experience of racism.  To them, I say…to bad.  Racism exists and pretending that it doesn't, isn't going to make it go away or get better.  If hearing about it makes some people uncomfortable, they need to put themselves in the shoes of the one it’s happening too.

Anyway, Oprah says she's "sorry" about the media coverage that emerged after she said, she experienced racism during a trip to Switzerland adding, "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.  I didn't have anything that said, 'I have money.'  I wasn't wearing a diamond stud.  I didn't have a pocketbook.  I didn't wear Louboutin shoes.  I didn't have anything.  But that doesn't matter.  You should be able to go in a store looking like whatever you look like and say, 'I'd like to see this.' That didn't happen."

Not because what happened was wrong, but because they learned who Oprah was and more importantly how much she’s worth, the Swiss tourism officials and the boutique owner apologized for the incident last week.  However, Oprah insists there's no need.

"It's not an indictment against the country or even that store." She said, "It was just one person who didn't want to offer me the opportunity to see the bag.  So, no apologies necessary from the country of Switzerland.  If somebody makes a mistake in the United States do we apologize in front of the whole country? No!"

Ironically, Oprah stars in a new movie that takes a long hard look at how ugly racism is and how one man dealt with it.  Get more details with Tha Wire below.

In other news, there’s been a lot of commotion about Big Sean’s new track “Control” in the Hip Hop community.  In case you haven’t heard, Sean’s new single was released yesterday and the seven-minute epic features Kendrick Lamar and Jay Electronica.  For a quick note, “Control” couldn't be added on to Big Sean’s upcoming ‘Hall of Fame’ because of sample clearance issues, so he decided to leak the song regardless.

But ever since the track dropped, Kendrick's verse is the only thing anyone in the music world is talking about.  Compton’s own delivers a blistering maze of word-play, name dropping just about every relevant MC in the game right now…..including Big Sean and Jay Electronica!  Yep, K-Dot is calling out everybody including the MC’s he shares the song with.  Look’s like Kendrick is pushing Hip Hop toward a new era of competitiveness and the way he’s going about it has ruffled a few feathers.

 Here's the meat of Kendrick Lamar's verse of the song (audio below):

Im usually homeboys with the same n***** I'm rhymin with
But this is hip hop and them n***** should know what time it is
And that goes for Jermaine Cole, Big KRIT, Wale
Pusha T, Meek Mill, A$AP Rocky, Drake
Big Sean, Jay Electron', Tyler, Mac Miller
I got love for you all but I'm tryna murder you n*****
Tryna make sure your core fans never heard of you n*****
They dont wanna hear not one more noun or verb from you n*****

Meanwhile, Big Sean says he’s proud of the impact the song has on the hip-hop community.  During an interview with Rap-Up TV, he also spoke on how the song was recorded.  Sean said he sent his verse to Jay Electronica, who then sent it to Kendrick to complete.  Sean explained, he didn't know what Kendrick was going to say until he got the track back.  Regardless, he was a good sport and said though he could have went back and changed his original verse, he decided to let it be.  Here's Sean with his take on the issue:

For more details on Oprah's story and when Big Sean is set to drop his sophomore album, listen to Tha Wire now.

 

 

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