Last week, security footage was released showing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi getting her hair done at a San Francisco salon in violation of local coronavirus-related restrictions. The move prompted criticism, including from the owner of San Francisco’s eSalon, and Erica Kious has since received death threats for allowing the footage to be made public.
But it seems everyday Americans are turning their backs on Pelosi and showing their support for small businesses. According to the Washington Examiner, a GoFundMe set up for Kious accumulated more than $300,000 in donations in under a week.
“This salon owes me an apology”
Pelosi first alleged last week that Kious’ salon had engaged in a “set-up,” and said she wouldn’t apologize for getting her hair done without a mask months into the COVID-19 pandemic. “I think that this salon owes me an apology, for setting me up,” the California Democrat said, according to SFGate.
“I take responsibility for trusting the word of the neighborhood salon that I’ve been to over the years many times,” Pelosi added. “And that 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. As it turns out, it was a set-up, and I take responsibility for falling for a set-up.”
Kious, who owns the eSalon but was not the stylist who did Pelosi’s hair that day, pushed back on that characterization and slammed Pelosi for skirting coronavirus orders in an interview with Fox News.
“It was a slap in the face that she went in, you know, that she feels that she can just go and get her stuff done while no one else can go in, and I can’t work,” she said, as SFGate reported. “We have been shut down for so long, not just me, but most of the small businesses and I just can’t — it’s a feeling — a feeling of being deflated, helpless, and honestly beaten down.”
“I am very humbled”
The GoFundMe may give the “deflated” business owner the break she’s been needing. Speaking with Fox this week, Kious said she is “humbled and grateful” for the hundreds of thousands of dollars she’s received in support.
“I wish I could personally thank every person who sent me their prayers, words of encouragement and support, especially at a time when so many are struggling to make ends meet in their own lives,” Kious said, according to Fox.
She went on: “I am very humbled and grateful to have received such an outpouring of kindness, empathy and generosity from people I don’t even know, and from all walks of life and all sides of the political spectrum.”
“For the rest of us”
According to the Examiner, the GoFundMe was first set up by former Nevada Republican Party chairwoman Amy Tarkanian to help Kious pay off debts and find a new location for her salon.
“I’m honored to help a friend and to have been a part of this,” Tarkanian wrote in an update on the GoFundMe page, the Examiner reported.
She added:
If it’s safe enough for [Nevada] Gov. [Steve] Sisolak to enjoy dining out while listening to “ambiance” music, [New York] Gov. [Andrew] Cuomo to walk his dog or hop on a plane without a mask, or for [California’s] Speaker Pelosi to not only make an appointment in her district but then get her hair done without wearing a mask, then it should be OK for the rest of us to open safely and resume living!
The post San Francisco salon owner gets over 0K in donations following Pelosi controversy: Report first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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