Fundraising page for salon owner who exposed Pelosi raises $140,000 in just two days

A fundraising campaign set up on behalf of the owner of the San Francisco salon at the centre of a controversy with house speaker Nancy Pelosi has raised more than $140,000 (£106,150) in just two days.

The GoFundMe page, that describes itself as the official and only valid fundraiser for the owner of eSalon, Erica Kious, was set up by former Nevada State GOP chairman Amy Tarkanian on Wednesday and is looking to raise $300,000 (£226,990).

Earlier on Wednesday, Ms Pelosi asked for an apology from Ms Kious, after she criticised the house speaker’s hair appointment, while the salon owner told Tucker Carlson of Fox News that her business was “done,” following death threats, according to the Daily Mail.

The fundraising page states: “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.

“All donations will go directly to Erica to pay off any debts from the business that she is forced to shut down, expenses to relocate and reopen in a new location.”

The controversy started on Tuesday, when Fox News aired footage from the salon, which showed Ms Pelosi not wearing a face mask as she walked through the business after having her hair washed.

Salons in San Francisco have been closed over the last few months, due to the coronavirus pandemic, but they reopened for outdoor operations on Tuesday.

However, Ms Pelosi, who serves as a Democratic congresswoman in California, was filmed walking through the salon with her face mask around her neck during an appointment on Monday, and was subsequently criticised by Ms Kious.

Speaking at an event about school reopenings in San Francisco’s Noe Valley on Wednesday, Ms Pelosi addressed the incident and told the San Francisco Chronicle: “I take responsibility for trusting the word of the neighbourhood salon that I’ve been to many times.

“It was a set up, and I take responsibility for falling for a setup,” and added: “I think that this salon owes me an apology, for setting me up.”

Later on Wednesday, Ms Pelosi’s stylist, Jonathan DeNardo, released a statement through his lawyer, where he backed up her claims and said the salon’s owner, Ms Kious, “authorised” him to “proceed with speaker Pelosi’s appointment” two days earlier on 29 August.

“Ms Kious took special interest in the appointment during this telephone call, wherein she made several vitriolic and incendiary comments about speaker Pelosi and her purported responsibility for temporarily suspending operations of Ms Kious’ business,” the letter from attorney Matthew Soleimanpour read.

The attorney added: “The fact that Ms Kious is now objecting to speaker Pelosi’s presence at eSalon, and from a simple surface-level review of Ms Kious’ political leanings, it appears Ms Kious is furthering a set-up of speaker Pelosi for her own vain aspirations.”

Ms Pelosi has been a vocal proponent of masks, and has criticised president Donald Trump for repeatedly downplaying the need for face coverings, according to the Chronicle.

When asked why she walked through the salon without a face mask covering her mouth and nose, Ms Pelosi replied: “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 wear a mask ... and that picture is when I just came out of the bowl.”

After the footage aired on Tuesday, Ms Kious criticised Ms Pelosi and told 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.”

The salon owner added: “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.”

However, through his lawyer Mr DeNardo claimed that Ms Kious has been operating the salon since April, and wrote that he “is in possession of photographs, videos and witness information that Ms Kious, contrary to her prior statements to the press.”

The stylist claimed that Ms Kious “has actually been operating her business during the stay-at-home orders and similar executive orders limiting in-store operations since as far back as April 2020”. Ms Kious has denied these claims.

Speaking to Tucker Carlson of Fox News on Wednesday, Ms Kious denied setting up the House Speaker, and said “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.”

Ms Pelosi told the Chronicle that she does not want this incident to distract from her focus of passing coronavirus relief for those still affected by the ongoing pandemic and safely reopening schools across the country.

She said: “We have to get this country moving again, and I will not let this subject take away from the fact that we have 185,000 plus people who have died from this virus.”

According to Johns Hopkins University some 6.1m people have now tested positive for coronavirus in the US and the death toll has reached 186,834.