SAN FRANCISCO—Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi claims that an incident regarding her visit to a San Francisco indoor hair salon was “a setup” during a press conference on Wednesday, September 2, where she demanded an apology from the salon.
Pelosi was seen walking through e-Salon located on Union Street in San Francisco for a wash and blow on Monday, August 31 in video footage released by Fox News. Salons in the city of San Francisco have remained closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Erica Kious, owner of e-Salon, appeared on Fox News on September 1 and commented that “It was a slap in the face,” saying that any other customers cannot go into the salons and Kious herself has been closing her salon for almost half a year under business regulations due to the pandemic.
On September 1, Pelosi’s spokesman Drew Hammill insisted that the salon explained they received a permit to open from the city and only one person was allowed to enter the facility at a time. Pelosi was following rules provided by them.
On Wednesday, September 2, the Speaker of the House issued the following statement, at an event about school reopening:
“I take responsibility for trusting the word of a neighborhood salon that I’ve been to, over the years, many times, when they said we’re able to accommodate people one person at a time, and that we can set up a time, I trusted that.” She concluded that “it was a set up,” and demanded an apology from the salon.
Pelosi added that she was seen without a mask over the mouth or nose in the video, because she pulled down the mask briefly after she had had her hair done. “Do you wear a mask when you’re washing your hair?” said Pelosi, noting otherwise she always wears a mask.
The House Judiciary of GOP criticized her reaction to the incident stating:
“Instead of blaming others, @SpeakerPelosi should take responsibility for her actions…she doesn’t actually care about working class Americans.”
