A video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visiting a hair salon in San Francisco on Monday afternoon for a wash and blow-out despite local ordinances keeping salons closed due to the coronavirus pandemic is being widely circulated on social media.
In the footage, Pelosi is seen walking through eSalon with wet hair, without a mask over her face as her stylist, who can be seen wearing a black face mask, follows her.
Salons in San Francisco had been forced to close down since March and were only notified that they could reopen on Sept. 1 but only for outdoor hairstyling services. Moreover, face coverings are also mandatory in public places.
Pelosi a 'Hypocrite'
Pelosi's visit to the salon has invited criticism with many taking to social media to slam the Speaker for flouting coronavirus rules and accuse her of hypocrisy with the hashtag #PelosiBlowout trending on Twitter. Here are some of the posts.
Pelosi's chief of staff later issued a statement saying that the business offered the Speaker to come in for her appointment on Monday and informed her that they were permitted by the city to have one customer at a time inside the establishment.
Salon Owner Slams Pelosi
The owner of the salon, Erica Kious, told Fox News that she allows independent hairstylists working for her to rent chairs in her salon and was told by one of her stylists on Sunday night that Pelosi's assistant messaged her that the Speaker wanted to get her hair done.
"I was like, are you kidding me right now? Do I let this happen? What do I do?" Kious told Fox News, while noting that she couldn't control what her stylists do if they rent chairs from her as they're not getting paid right now with the salon being shut.
Kious called out Pelosi over her double standard. "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," Kious said, before adding that Pelosi got a hair wash and a blow-dry, which, according to her, isn't allowed as per coronavirus safety precautions for hair salons.
"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," Kious said.
"I have been fighting for six months for a business that took me 12 years to build to reopen," she added. "I am a single mom, I have two small children, and I have no income. The fact that they did this, and she came in, it's like a slap in the face."
