Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Pelosi Says Hair Salon Should Apologize for 'Set-Up' Visit
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 4 years ago on
September 3, 2020

Share

SAN FRANCISCO — A testy Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday she takes responsibility for trusting the word of a San Francisco hair salon that it was OK to come in for a solo visit — even though the city still does not allow indoor beauty services because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I take responsibility for trusting the word of a neighborhood 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,” Pelosi told reporters Wednesday. “As it turns out, it was a set-up.”Nancy Pelosi

But the Democratic House Speaker called Monday’s visit a “set-up” and said the salon owes her an apology for misrepresenting city health orders.

“I take responsibility for trusting the word of a neighborhood 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,” Pelosi told reporters Wednesday. “As it turns out, it was a set-up.”

“I take responsibility for falling for a set-up,” she said.

An attorney for the man who did her hair also said Pelosi appeared to have been set up.

Matthew Soleimanpour said his client received permission from the salon owner a day earlier to make the appointment.

During that telephone call the owner, Erica Kious, “made several vitriolic and incendiary comments about Speaker Pelosi,” Soleimanpour said in a statement.

“It appears Ms. Kious is furthering a set-­‐up of Speaker Pelosi for her own vain aspirations,” the statement said.

Pelosi is facing fierce backlash after Fox News Channel aired surveillance footage from the salon that showed her walking through the salon with her hair wet and with a mask around her neck rather than on her face. In the clip, a masked stylist follows her.

Photo of Nancy Pelosi
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi looks over her notes before speaking at a news conference at the Mission Education Center Elementary School, Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020, in San Francisco. Pelosi said she takes responsibility for trusting the word of a San Francisco hair salon she’s visited over the years when it told her it was OK to come in for a solo visit this week, even though the city still does not allow indoor beauty services. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Health Order Violations Can Be Punished by a Fine, Imprisonment or Both

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

Kious, owner of ESalon SF in the city’s upscale Cow Hollow district, told Fox News that she rents chairs to stylists, and one of them informed her in advance that Pelosi wanted a wash and blow dry. California guidelines on salons vary by county, but stringent San Francisco officials have not yet permitted indoor salons to open.

Kious said she considered Pelosi getting her hair done “a slap in the face” to struggling business owners.

However, in his statement, Soleimanpour said photographs and other information show that Kious had been performing indoor services since at least April without wearing a mask, and she also had been encouraging “and almost forcing stylists” to work.

Kious did not respond to repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press.

Health order violations can be punished by a fine, imprisonment or both. But San Francisco has stressed education over enforcement and has been reluctant to penalize businesses and individuals.

Pelosi said Wednesday she would not answer any more questions about the visit and asked at one point whether reporters had any questions “about the fact that people are dying,” referring to the HEROES Act legislation she called the news conference to address.

A reporter asked why she was not wearing a mask in the brief clip.

“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,” Pelosi said.

DON'T MISS

CVS Grant Will Help Make Food Bank Mission About Fresno Jobs as Well as Food

DON'T MISS

Former Dinuba School Principal Faces Life in Prison for DUI Deaths of Mom, Daughter

DON'T MISS

FUSD’s Misty Her to Students: If You’re Not in School, We Can’t Help You Learn

DON'T MISS

Wired Wednesday: Breaking Down the Lawsuit vs. Community Health System

DON'T MISS

Friant Needs $90 Million to Pay for Massive Canal Project. Who Will Pony Up?

DON'T MISS

UCLA Can’t Let Protesters Block Jewish Students From Campus, Judge Says

DON'T MISS

Ukraine’s Surprise Attack Has Forced Russia to Change Plans

DON'T MISS

Californians Will Vote on $18 Minimum Wage. Workers Want $25 and More.

DON'T MISS

Ricardo Lara Deserves Credit for Trying to Solve California’s Home Insurance Crisis

DON'T MISS

Mark Gardner on Giants’ 2014 World Series Title, Why Fresno Turns Out Great Players

UP NEXT

San Francisco Prosecutors Charge 26 Pro-Palestinian Demonstrators Who Blocked Golden Gate Bridge

UP NEXT

California Task Force Seizes 2.2 Million Cannabis Packages Mimicking Kids’ Candy

UP NEXT

Police Investigate Fatal Shooting in Southeast Fresno

UP NEXT

Leaked Videos Reveal Project 2025’s Radical Plans for Trump-like Administration

UP NEXT

Former Cornell Student Gets 21 Months in Prison for Posting Violent Threats to Jewish Students

UP NEXT

California Gov. Gavin Newsom Nudges School Districts to Restrict Student Cellphone Use

UP NEXT

Feds Charge ex-LA County Deputies in Sham Raid, $37M Extortion

UP NEXT

Earthquake With Magnitude of 4.4 Strikes Los Angeles Area, USGS Says

UP NEXT

Activists Demand Harris Take Action Against Israeli ‘Genocide’ at SF Rally

UP NEXT

Harris Hopes a New Playbook Will Neutralize GOP Attacks on Immigration

Wired Wednesday: Breaking Down the Lawsuit vs. Community Health System

2 hours ago

Friant Needs $90 Million to Pay for Massive Canal Project. Who Will Pony Up?

2 hours ago

UCLA Can’t Let Protesters Block Jewish Students From Campus, Judge Says

4 hours ago

Ukraine’s Surprise Attack Has Forced Russia to Change Plans

4 hours ago

Californians Will Vote on $18 Minimum Wage. Workers Want $25 and More.

4 hours ago

Ricardo Lara Deserves Credit for Trying to Solve California’s Home Insurance Crisis

5 hours ago

Mark Gardner on Giants’ 2014 World Series Title, Why Fresno Turns Out Great Players

5 hours ago

Presented With Rise in Border Crossings, Kamala Harris Chose a Long-Term Approach to the Problem

6 hours ago

WHO Declares Mpox Outbreaks in Africa a Global Health Emergency as a New Form of the Virus Spreads

6 hours ago

What the Republican Party Might Look Like if Trump Loses

6 hours ago

CVS Grant Will Help Make Food Bank Mission About Fresno Jobs as Well as Food

The efforts of the Central California Food Bank and the Fresno Mission to feed people in need got the attention of the country’s bigge...

14 mins ago

14 mins ago

CVS Grant Will Help Make Food Bank Mission About Fresno Jobs as Well as Food

50 mins ago

Former Dinuba School Principal Faces Life in Prison for DUI Deaths of Mom, Daughter

1 hour ago

FUSD’s Misty Her to Students: If You’re Not in School, We Can’t Help You Learn

2 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: Breaking Down the Lawsuit vs. Community Health System

2 hours ago

Friant Needs $90 Million to Pay for Massive Canal Project. Who Will Pony Up?

4 hours ago

UCLA Can’t Let Protesters Block Jewish Students From Campus, Judge Says

4 hours ago

Ukraine’s Surprise Attack Has Forced Russia to Change Plans

4 hours ago

Californians Will Vote on $18 Minimum Wage. Workers Want $25 and More.

MENU

CONNECT WITH US

Search

Send this to a friend