The salon owner who leaked footage of Nancy Pelosi getting a blowout with no mask on says it wasn't a setup and that she's been getting death threats
- Erica Kious leaked footage to Fox News earlier this week of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi breaking coronavirus measures and getting a blowout in her salon.
- Pelosi later said she was unaware she was breaking San Francisco's COVID-19 measures, saying she was the victim of a "setup."
- In a Wednesday interview with Tucker Carlson, Kious said the claims of a setup were "absolutely false" and that her decision to leak the footage was not politically motivated.
- "It's the fact that she actually came in and didn't have a mask on. I just thought about my staff and people not being able to work and make money and provide for their families," Kious said.
- Kious added that she's been getting death threats and will likely move out of San Francisco.
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The San Francisco salon owner who leaked footage of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi getting a blowout at her salon while not wearing a face mask is defending the move.
After facing blowback over the footage, which was published on Fox News on Tuesday, Pelosi said she had been under the impression that San Francisco salons were allowed to do one-on-one appointments. In fact, only outdoor appointments are being allowed under the city's current coronavirus guidelines.
The video shows Pelosi entering a room followed by another person — the stylist, according to Fox News — who is wearing a mask. It is not clear whether she subsequently put her mask back on.
Pelosi later said her face mask was only off to get her hair washed, and that she had been the victim of a "set up."
In an interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson Wednesday night, just hours after she leaked the footage, ESalonSF owner Eric Kious said it was "absolutely not" a setup.
"Her assistant had made the appointment, so the appointment was already booked, so there was no way I could have set that up," Kious said.
"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 to set her up."
Kious said her decision to share the footage with Fox News wasn't politically motivated, and what angered her was the fact that Pelosi didn't wear a face mask during the appointment with the salon's stylist.
"This isn't even political ... It's the fact that she actually came in and didn't have a mask on," Kious said. "I just thought about my staff and people not being able to work and make money and provide for their families."
"If she's in there comfortably without a mask and feeling safe, then why are we shut down? Why am I not able to have clients come in?"
Kious said her salon has been closed for the past six months due to the city's coronavirus regulations, and it's destroyed her business.
"We're pretty much done," she said. "We've lost at least 60% of our clients. I've lost the majority of my staff."
Since she released the footage, Kious said she's been getting threats, and she doesn't see herself staying in San Francisco for much longer.
"The hard part of all this is that I have been in that community for 12 years, and since this happened I have received nothing but hate text messages, death threats. They're going to burn my hair salon down, my Yelp page is just unbelievable with bad reviews," she said.
"It's just sad that my community is pulling this."
Pelosi has previously called for a nationwide mask mandate. Her office did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on Kious' interview.
President Donald Trump mocked Pelosi after the footage was published on Tuesday, tweeting: "Crazy Nancy Pelosi is being decimated for having a beauty parlor opened, when all others are closed, and for not wearing a Mask — despite constantly lecturing everyone else."
"The Beauty Parlor owner must really dislike Crazy Nancy Pelosi," he added in a subsequent tweet. "Turning her in, on tape, is a really big deal."
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