Oprah Makes Australian Store Remove Racist “Mamee” Dolls

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» by December 10, 2010, 14:16pm


An Australian store was forced to remove seemingly racist dolls called “Mamee Dolls” to prepare for a visit from Oprah Winfrey.

As previously reported, Winfrey and her audience on an eight-day Aussie adventure as part of her ‘Favorite Things' segment give-away.

According to the Herald Sun, the talk show mogul and her 300 guests were scheduled to visit The Dafel Dolls And Bear Shop in Melbourne when her producers requested that the store's “Mamee” dolls be removed from the shelves.

The Mamee dolls show a dark skinned African-American woman with red lipstick, wearing a maid costume and a scarf around her head.

The store owner reportedly obliged and the dolls were removed.

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Comment Comments 24 Tags Tags: , , , ,
  • mssouth

    Queen O! Leave it to the Queen. Her influence is beyond comparison to many.

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  • Blessed

    U go Oprah!

  • nina

    that's really outrageous. Those dolls hurt my feelings. And I'm hispanic. It's like making ***** dolls smh at the maker! Oprah has power!

  • iWinYouLOSE

    Go Oprah!!! =)

  • Stanley

    I wish her power can extend to moving the Republicans out of the way so our president who has a social conscience can get something done.

  • HaterAllDay

    Thats great, but how can we be sure the store didn't put them back?!

  • Mabel

    I went to Cuba and saw the same thing all over Camaguey. I was kinda shocked, but the Cubans acted as though it was normal. A lot of places around the world still have these things on display. Sad.

  • Jerz

    The bigger move would have been not even going there after finding that out.

  • Zee

    I don't believe when Oprah goes to the Bahamas the dolls are removed from the market places there. This doll is part of our past history. Story telling could be told to this new generation that appears to know very little of our history and the hurts of the p*****. There are collectors of this doll not just for the price but as teaching tool. Tag the doll with a story of how it came to be instead of tagging it as so offensive. Remember once upon a time these dolls were hand made for little girls that didn't have dolls to play with. Shame on you all.

  • Kayleezy

    Right @ Jerz. She didnt do THAT well by even going to the place after that! What is so special about that place?

  • g

    miss ur are illetret go back to school bahamas my A$$

    • WTF!

      "illetret" i hope that this was a typo. Illiterate.

  • MIKA T

    You know what. I kinda think of it a different way. if a white person or any other race person than black is sellin them dolls, then yes id say theyve got some kind of racist issues goin on. But.. if i was to see one of them same dolls in a black owned store, then i can honestly say i would probably buy one. Im sorry, but even though its wrong for the way some people looked at us and treated us at a time, it is still our history. And if we are ashamed of those dolls, then we are ashamed of knowing our history!

    • lc

      So if some "cracker" makes a "lynched n*gger" doll, you gonna buy one of those too? I mean, it's part of our history so we should embrace that too, right? SMFH....

      By the way, white Australians have treated the indigenous folks (blacks) of Australia like crap since they were banished there. These dolls do not have the exact same meaning as they do in America, but they DO have a negative meaning. At least Oprah used her power to let them know she would not be spit on and smile about it....

    • Darryl

      To Maki T.

      So if there were a doll with a nangman's noose around its neck, you would be inclined to buy it too. It's apart of our history as well.

  • rsao

    Instead of telling the store to remove the dolls, she should have exposed that Shyte just as it is and boycotted the stored.

  • Valli

    I think that the people that made these Mamee Dolls should all rot in hell.

  • Townsgab

    Isn't Mel Gibson from Austrailia? We recently found out he is racist.

  • Tyronne

    "unflattering stereotypes of black women"
    It has nothing to do with black women at all, it is a black cloth doll that is all it is, if you don't like it then don't buy it. If you don't like the store then don't go there, why make such a big deal? I think it is in itself a raciest comment to say the doll looks like or is stereotypical of black women, If I were that store owner I most certainly would not have taken the dolls away when she came to visit, if she didn't like them, then to bad, let her go elsewhere.It seems that color has no division when it comes to Americans going to foreign countries and expect other people to change the way they think, act and do things on account of us and finally (yes I will end my tirade) it makes us as black people look so very stupid to the entire world to become so bent out of shape over a cloth doll.

    • ashya

      International racism is a problem. It has been acceptable for centuries to treat people of color like crap and it continues to this day (look at Haiti) How many black countries around the world are doing well versus being impoverished. We just tend to forget because we have so many opportunities in America (there's still a lot of work to be done here). I'm sure if the owner refused to remove the dolls she wouldn't have went to the store. She asked and he respected her wishes (and hopefully learned something in the process). Just because the hip hop crap emulate us as amoral dummies all over the world doesn't mean we have to accept the ignorance of others when it comes to racism and slavery because that is what those dolls represent period. The store owner know that and that is why they were taken down for the visit.

  • Cat2

    You hit on the head, they were removed for this visit. SMH. This visit only too.

  • lisa

    I am the owner of the store and i think if you are going to blob you need to get you facts straight first.Oprah never came into the store and the dolls were never asked to be removed.End of story

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