Store Clerk Tells Oprah Winfrey She Can't 'Afford' Expensive Purse, Luxury Shop Denies Alleged Racism [Video]

The boutique sales clerk that snubbed Oprah Winfrey by telling her that she could not "afford" a $38,000 handbag must be eating her words now.

The media mogul, who has a $2.9 billion net worth, recently revealed the mistreatment she was subjected to due to the color of her skin when she walked into a ritzy boutique in Zurich. After Winfrey asked to look at a posh Tom Ford "Jennifer" purse, the Trois Pommes clerk repeatedly refused to meet her request, and instead told the talk show queen that it was out of her price range.

Winfrey, who earned $77 million last year alone, recalled the incident in an interview on "Entertainment Tonight."

"[The clerk] said: 'No, no, no, you don't want to see that one. You want to see this one. Because that one will cost too much; you will not be able to afford that,'" Winfrey explained. "And I said, 'Well, I did really want to see that one.' And she refused to get it."

As a result, Swiss tourism officials and the boutique owner offered their apologies Friday, reports the Sun Times.

"We are very sorry for what happened to her, of course, because we think all of our guests and clients should be treated respectfully, in a professional way," Daniela Baer, a spokeswoman for the Swiss tourism office.

The tourism office also posted an apology on Twitter, saying, "This person acted terribly wrong."

Winfrey also tweeted about the incident on Friday: ".@NancyODell Turns out that store clerk did me a favor. Just found out that bag was $38K!!! She was right I was NOT going to buy it."

However, the boutique owner, Trudie Goetz, denied that the media tycoon was subjected to racism. Instead, she told the BBC that the incident occurred based off a "misunderstanding" and that the assistant had shown Winfrey several other items, reports Reuters.

"I have to admit that the employee is Italian. Of course, she speaks English, but not as well as her mother tongue," Goetz said in a video interview on Blick's website. "It was a real misunderstanding."

Watch Oprah recall the incident below: