WASHINGTON — The owner of a San Francisco salon where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got her hair done indoors in violation of city coronavirus pandemic rules denied that she had “set up” the Democrat.
Erica Kious, who owns e Salon on Union Street in the Cow Hollow neighborhood, appeared on conservative news host Tucker Carlson’s program Wednesday to push back on Pelosi’s comments earlier in the day that the salon owed her an apology for allegedly tricking her into the situation.
Carlson asked Kious if she orchestrated a “setup to entrap” Pelosi, and whether she could prove she did not engage in “a diabolical setup designed to bring down the speaker of the House by blow-drying her hair.”
“That is absolutely false,” Kious said of the allegations.
The denial followed a statement late Wednesday from the lawyer representing the stylist who did Pelosi’s hair on Monday, saying Kious herself authorized Pelosi’s visit in advance while making “vitriolic and incendiary comments” about the speaker in which she blamed her for forcing her to close during the pandemic.
Carlson did not ask Kious about those allegations. He also did not ask about accusations by the stylist, Jonathan DeNardo, that Kious has been operating her salon illegally since April, without recommended coronavirus protections, and encouraging her stylists to do the same.
Kious has not responded to repeated requests for comment from The Chronicle.
Republicans continued to use the incident to attack Pelosi. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany gave her press briefing Thursday in front of TV screens playing the few seconds-long video of Pelosi in the salon on a loop.
“Nancy Pelosi, you ought to apologize to the American people,” McEnany said. “Or better yet, come back to Washington and get to work for hard-working Americans like this salon owner that you maligned and demanded an apology from.”
The controversy ignited when Fox News posted security camera footage of Pelosi’s visit and an interview with Kious in which she said she had no ability to stop the speaker from coming because she “can’t control” the stylists. The story included a copy of a text message purportedly from DeNardo to Kious on Sunday, informing her of the visit.
San Francisco and Alameda counties are alone in the Bay Area in barring salons from having customers indoors. Other counties allowed the businesses to resume indoor service Monday.
Pelosi and her staff say she had been having a stylist come to her home during the pandemic, but that when that option was unavailable, she reached out to the salon. Pelosi says the salon told her the business was legally allowed to have one client inside at a time, and accepted the appointment. San Francisco has no such provision, and only began allowing outdoor hair service Tuesday.
“I take responsibility for trusting the word of a neighborhood salon that I’ve been to over the years many times,” Pelosi said at a news conference Wednesday. “When they said, ‘We’re able to accommodate people one person at a time,’ and that we could set up that time, I trusted that. As it turns out, it was a setup. So, I take responsibility for falling for a setup.”
In a short clip of the footage released by Fox News, Pelosi is seen immediately after having had her hair washed, with a mask around her neck. Pelosi says she removed it for the hair washing and otherwise always wears her mask when she is near other people. Pelosi has not explained why she did know local regulations; she splits her time with her hometown and Washington, where she had been for much of August.
Kious denied that she had lured Pelosi into a trap, saying she has had security cameras in her salon for five years and that the stylist set up the appointment without her intervention.
Carlson did not ask Kious whether she could have canceled the appointment or about who provided the security camera footage to Fox.
As for Pelosi’s assertion that the salon told her customers were allowed inside one at a time, Kious said, “I heard that, and I thought to myself, well, as a hairstylist, I see clients one-on-one. So that would mean that I would be open, right?”
In addition to setting off a firestorm in the culture wars over business lockdowns and mask-wearing, news of Pelosi’s visit also touched a nerve in San Francisco, where some salon owners have said they feel confused and singled out by regulations not allowing them to open. Pelosi has no authority over local regulations, but has been at the center of coronavirus relief negotiations in Congress and a vocal proponent of accepting expert recommendations on social distancing precautions and mask-wearing.
Kious said she was upset by Pelosi’s visit in part because it suggested the city’s regulations were keeping her salon closed unnecessarily.
“To be honest, it was ... hurtful,” Kious told Carlson. “She’s been coming in for quite a while, and just to see her come in and especially not wearing not wearing the mask, that’s what really got to me.”
She added, “I just thought about 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, whose Facebook page shows pictures of her spending California’s lockdown in Montana and Tennessee, said she was “pretty much done” with San Francisco.
“The hard part of all this is that I’ve been in that community for 12 years,” Kious said. “And this happened, I received nothing but hate text messages, death threats, (saying) they’re going to burn my hair salon down. My Yelp page is just unbelievable with bad reviews. It’s just sad.”
Tal Kopan is The San Francisco Chronicle’s Washington correspondent. Email: tal.kopan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @talkopan
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