GoFundMe campaign set up to help owner of salon visited by Nancy Pelosi

Rebecca Speare-Cole4 September 2020

A fundraiser to support the owner of the salon visited by Nancy Pelosi has raised more than $180,000 in just two days.

The US house speaker is facing a fierce backlash after surveillance footage from the eSalon in San Francisco showed her walking through the beauty parlour with a face mask around her neck.

Ms Pelosi has said she takes responsibility for trusting the word of the salon who allegedly said that a solo visit was permitted even though the city still does not allow indoor beauty services.

She called the visit a "set-up" and said the salon owes her an apology for misrepresenting city health orders.

A fundraiser to support the owner of the salon visited by Nancy Pelosi has raised more than $180,000 in a day
Fox News

Erica Kious, the owner of eSalon SF, said she has received death threats in the wake of exposing the House Speaker's trip to her business on Monday.

After the footage went viral a day later, Ms Kious told Fox News' Tucker Carlson on Wednesday that her business was '"done".

Now the GoFundMe page - set up by former Nevada State GOP chairman Amy Tarkanian - has raised more than $180,000 as of Friday morning local time.

The money raised will help Ms Kious '"to pay off any debts from the business that she is forced to shut down, expenses to relocate and reopen in a new location".

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
AFP via Getty Images

Ms Tarkanian, who hopes to raise $300,00 for her friend of 20 years, wrote on the fundraising page: 'Erica Kious, a single mother of two and owner of eSalon, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got her hair done on Monday, is now being forced to shut down and relocate her business and family due to outrage and threats she is receiving.​"

Meanwhile, Mr Kious has denied that the trip was a "set up".

She told Fox News that Ms Pelosi, "had called the stylist, or her assistant did, and had made the appointment so the appointment was already booked so there was no way I could have set that up.

"And 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's absolutely false."

San Francisco beauty parlours were not supposed to open until September 1 - the day after the speaker had her treatment.

Additionally, the California Department of Public Health requires face masks to be worn in public indoor places.

Critics, including US President Donald Trump, called Ms Pelosi a hypocrite and asked why she did not know the coronavirus-related rules in her home city.

When reporter asked why she was not wearing a mask in the brief clip, Ms Pelosi said: "I just had my hair washed. I don't wear a mask when I'm washing my hair. Do you wear a mask when you're washing your hair? I always have a mask."

She said: "I take responsibility for trusting the word of a neighbourhood salon that I've been to over the years many times, and that when they said ... we're able to accommodate people one person at a time, and that we can set up that time, I trusted that.

"As it turns out, it was a set-up. I take responsibility for falling for a set-up."

 

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