Erica Kious, the owner of the San Francisco salon visited by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) last week in violation of city health guidelines, has announced that she is officially going out of business.
Kious told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the controversy surrounding Pelosi's visit on Aug. 31 has effectively destroyed her business in the city.
"I am actually done in San Francisco and closing my doors, unfortunately," the single mother of two said during an interview Wednesday.
Kious claimed that after exposing Pelosi by releasing surveillance footage of the lawmaker visiting the salon and waltzing through the store mask-less, she was hit with an onslaught of negative reviews and threatening messages.
"I started to just get a ton of phone calls, text messages, emails, all my Yelp reviews ... saying that they hope I go under and that I fail," she claimed. "So just a lot of negativity towards my business."
Last week, Kious even revealed to Carlson that she had received "death threats" as result of the incident.
On Wednesday, Kious said that she is "actually afraid to go back" to the city where she has lived and worked for more than a decade.
"It's a little scary and sad," she added. "I do have a lot of positive calls and text messages from clients. But other than that, nothing but negativity."
Pelosi was reportedly serviced by an an independent stylist who rents space at Kious' salon and later claimed she was led to believe that one-on-one appointments were permissible.
That, of course, was not the case under San Francisco rules which, at that time, barred personal service providers from performing any services indoors and/or which required a mask to be worn.
Pelosi should have known that, yet after the footage was released, she responded by claiming she was the victim of a "setup" and that she was the one who was owed "an apology."
"I take responsibility for trusting the word of the neighborhood salon that I've been to over the years many times," Pelosi said. "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 setup, so I take responsibility for falling for a setup."
Kious has vehemently denied that she set a trap for the speaker and has called that allegation "absolutely false."
After the incident a GoFundMe page was created in effort to raise funds for Kious to "pay off any debts from the business that she is forced to shut down [and] expenses to relocate and reopen in a new location."
So far, more than $336,000 has been raised.
More than $300,000 has been raised for Erica Kious, the San Francisco salon owner accused by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of a "setup" after the lawmaker was caught on surveillance video visiting the salon in violation of city pandemic rules.
Pelosi had made headlines last week for visiting the shuttered salon to get her hair done despite city guidelines not yet permitting such services. The speaker could be seen on video walking through the salon without a mask.
But after Pelosi claimed she was the victim of a setup, her defenders allegedly flocked online to castigate the salon and its owner.
Kious, a single mother of two, told Fox News' Tucker Carlson last week that she had received "death threats" following the release of surveillance video exposing the powerful Democratic leader.
She added that she would likely be forced to move her business and her family out of San Francisco, a city which she had serviced for more than a decade.
But it turns out that Kious has her fair share of supporters, too. A GoFundMe page created to help Kious quickly began amassing donations. As of Tuesday afternoon, over $314,000 had been raised.
In a post on the fundraising page, Kious wrote:
I wish I could personally thank every person who sent me their prayers, words of encouragement and support, especially at a time when so many are struggling to make ends meet in their own lives.
I am very humbled and grateful to have received such an outpouring of kindness, empathy and generosity from people I don't even know, and from all walks of life and all sides of the political spectrum. It's a powerful reminder that the common things that bind us all together as Americans are far more meaningful and lasting than political and ideological differences that get so much attention and focus.
Today, on Labor Day, we should all focus on celebrating the efforts and achievements of hard-working people everywhere. They deserve our respect and appreciation, and they definitely all deserve an opportunity to get back to work safely and responsibly. That is all this was ever about.
Finally, and most importantly, I want to thank my girls and their loving dad, and all my family and friends (especially Amy Tarkanian) for their support and understanding.
The page was created by Kious' longtime friend, Amy Tarkanian, the wife of former Nevada Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian.
It pledges that all donations will go to "pay off any debts from the business that she is forced to shut down, expenses to relocate and reopen in a new location."
Kious has denied the allegation that she set a trap for Pelosi, calling the claim "absolutely false."
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