Salon owner slammed by Pelosi officially closes down her business, is 'afraid' to return to San Francisco



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.

What are the details?

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."

What's the background?

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."

Anything else?

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 $300K raised for San Francisco salon owner accused of 'setup' by Nancy Pelosi



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."

Minneapolis salon owner says rioters burned her building to the ground and then the city stuck her with a $200K bill



The owner of a Minneapolis salon set on fire during riots over George Floyd's death in May, said recently that rather than helping her rebuild her business, state and local officials opted to tear down the building and stick her with the bill.

"I haven't gotten anything, not a penny," Flora Westbrooks, the owner of Flora's Hair Designs, told "Fox & Friends" on Thursday after host Peter Doocy asked her how much aid she had received from the government.

Instead, the city of Minneapolis tore down the building and charged Westbrooks for it — at a whopping cost of $200,000.

"[The] bill is going to be over $200,000 just for tearing things down and putting up a fence there, so it's going to be lots of money that I can't afford that I don't have," she said.

In a statement provided to Fox News regarding the project, city media relations manager Casper Hill said that the building was at risk of collapsing and was torn down to "protect the public."

Westbrooks found that explanation quite rich as she recalled there was no protection for her building as riots raged on in late May. She said she "didn't see any police at all patrol [her] area" on the night her business was torched.

Minneapolis Salon Owner Explains How the City's Democratic Leaders Failed Her youtu.be

"I just feel like I'm alone and I'm sure other business owners feel the same as I do," Westbrooks added during the interview.

According to a GoFundMe page set to help her rebuild, Westbrooks operated the business for more than four decades before it was burned to the ground.

The page describes the business as "a pillar on Broadway Avenue where men, women and children came to get beautified and had history lessons from elders in the community.

"Flora has exhausted all of her energy and savings in building the community, creating jobs for entrepreneurs and aiding in generational wealth," it continued.

At the time of publication, more than $150,000 had been raised on the GoFundMe page.

During the interview Thursday. Westbrooks remained steadfast in her plans to rebuild, despite the injury from rioters and then state and local government.

"My plan is to rebuild my business," she said. "I built that business myself and I just want my business back. That's all I want, to just get my life back. I want my life back."

TheBlaze reached out for comment from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey's office, but did not receive a reply.

Owner of salon ​where Pelosi visited says she has received death threats, will be forced to move since exposing the speaker



The owner of a San Francisco hair salon, which was visited Monday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in violation of multiple city guidelines, said she has received "death threats" and will likely be forced to move her business from the city she has serviced for more than a decade.

"Since this has happened, I have received nothing but hate — text messages, death threats [saying that] they're going to burn my hair salon down," eSalon owner Erica Kious told Fox News host Tucker Carlson Wednesday night.

"My Yelp page is just unbelievable with bad reviews. It's just sad that my community is pulling this ... saying that I threw her under the bus when I didn't," Kious said. "So that's hurtful, but yeah, I think I'm pretty much done now."

During the interview, Kious, a single mother of two, also fired back at Pelosi, calling the lawmaker's claims that she was "set up" by the salon as "absolutely false."

Pelosi lashed out at Kious Wednesday after Kious released footage of the speaker getting her hair done in the salon shuttered by the coronavirus restrictions. In the video, Pelosi can be seen walking through the salon without wearing a mask.

"There was no way I could've set that up," Kious fired back during the Fox News interview. "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 is absolutely false."

Salon owner joins Tucker, pushes back on Pelosi's claim she was 'set-up' youtu.be

Pelosi was reportedly serviced by an independent stylist who rents space in Kious' salon. The speaker later claimed she was led to believe that one-on-one indoor appointments were permitted by the salon.

But that is simply not the case under San Francisco guidelines, which still do not permit personal service providers such as hair salons to accommodate appointments and only permitted outdoor appointments on Tuesday.

As for Pelosi's unmasked face, the guidelines also state that "personal service providers may not perform any services that requires their customer to remove their face covering."

So, the fact of the matter is, Pelosi was either unaware of the rules or indifferent toward following them, and thus responsible for her own actions. Though not responsible for instituting these specific city policies, Pelosi's case is not helped by the fact that she has been supportive of lockdown measures, in general.

Kious called Pelosi's hypocrisy "a slap in the face" on Tuesday and her blame-game retaliation "hurtful" on Wednesday.

In regard to Pelosi's one-on-one accommodation excuse, 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?'"

"This isn't even political," she added. "[Pelosi's] been coming in there ... it's the fact that she actually came in, didn't have a mask on, and I just thought about my staff and people not being able to work and make money and provide for their families, and if she is 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?"