The owner of the San Francisco salon is shutting down her business after the controversy surrounding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not wearing a face mask inside.
The owner of eSalon, Erica Kious, told “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Wednesday that the salon was closing.
“I am actually done in San Francisco and closing my doors, unfortunately,” Kious said, blaming the criticism she received from the Pelosi incident. Kious said she has lived in San Francisco for 15 years and is “afraid to go back.”
“I started to just get a ton of phone calls, text messages, emails, all my Yelp reviews … saying that they hope I go under and that I fail,” she said. “So just a lot of negativity towards my business.”
Pelosi, a California Democrat, said last week the salon owes her an apology after video surveillance footage from inside the business showed her with wet hair and a mask around her neck on Aug. 31, The Los Angeles Times reported.
The video was originally released by Fox News last week, and Pelosi faced backlash for the visit, including from President Donald Trump.
“It was clearly a setup,” Pelosi said during a press conference. “I take responsibility for falling for a setup by a neighborhood salon I’ve gone to for many years.”
Hair salons have been closed in San Francisco since March and were allowed to reopen on Sept. 1 for outdoor services, according to Forbes.
Pelosi made mask-wearing mandatory in July for all lawmakers on the House floor.
Kious said last week on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” that Pelosi’s comments were “hurtful.”
“There was no way I could’ve set that up,” Kious said, according to Fox News. “I’ve had a camera system in there for five years. I mean, I didn’t go in there and turn cameras on as soon as she walked in and set her up. So that is absolutely false.”
Pelosi’s spokesperson, Drew Hammill, told Fox News that Pelosi was following coronavirus rules.
“The Speaker always wears a mask and complies with local COVID requirements. This business offered for the Speaker to come in on Monday and told her they were allowed by the city to have one customer at a time in the business. The Speaker complied with the rules as presented to her by this establishment,” he said.
In a statement, hairstylist Jonathan DeNardo defended Pelosi and criticized the salon owner.
“The fact that Ms. Kious is now objecting to Speaker Pelosi’s presence at eSalon, and from a simple surface-level review of Ms. Kious’ political leanings, it appears Ms. Kious is furthering a set-up of Speaker Pelosi for her own vain aspirations,” he wrote.
