R&I ~ MJM
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday she was set up by a San Francisco salon where she was videotaped not wearing a face mask after getting her hair washed, in violation of the city’s coronavirus restrictions.
“This salon owes me an apology,” Pelosi said in response to questions from reporters at the end of a news conference on the Democrats’ proposed coronavirus relief act that is stalled in the Senate.
“It was clearly a setup,” she said. “I take responsibility for falling for a setup by a neighborhood salon I’ve gone to for many years.”
The eSalon’s owner, Erica Kious, denied Pelosi’s claim. She said that her salon had been closed for months because of the pandemic and that she found Pelosi’s remarks “hurtful.”
“I just thought about, you know, my staff and people not being able to work and make money and provide for their families. And if she’s in there comfortably, without a mask and feeling safe, then why are we shut down?” Kious told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson on Wednesday evening.
Less than two hours later, Jonathan DeNardo, the stylist who blew out Pelosi’s hair, released a statement through an attorney contradicting Kious.
The statement says the law firm is in possession of photographs and videotape that show that Kious has been operating her salon in violation of state and local restrictions since April. The statement also says that Kious authorized Pelosi coming to the salon for her blow-out, and that she was critical of the House speaker because she erroneously believed Pelosi was behind the restrictions that shut down her salon. (The rules were put in place by Gov. Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Mayor London Breed.)
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Article URL : https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-09-02/pelosi-hair-fallout-salon-mask